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14-451: Construction began in 1955, funded by a public sale of stock in the project, conceived by A.W. Thacker and Jack Toole "to showcase the thriving citrus industry," Orlando Weekly wrote in 2005. The project eventually consumed 5 million pounds (2,300 t) of concrete and 149,000 pounds (68 t) of reinforcing steel. The tower opened on July 14, 1956, with representatives from Silver Springs and Cypress Gardens in attendance. During

28-480: A popular way to see the 242-acre (98 ha) complex. A small amusement park with various animals, a concert stage, a carousel, and exhibits also developed. Silver Springs was founded in 1852. Since the mid-19th century, the natural environment of Silver Springs has attracted visitors from throughout the United States. The glass-bottom boat was invented and tours of the springs began in the late 1870s. In

42-664: Is known as the Manx Standard Gauge . Modern 3 ft gauge railways are most commonly found in isolated mountainous areas, on small islands, or in large-scale amusement parks and theme parks (see table below). This gauge is also popular in model railroading (particularly in G scale ), and model prototypes of these railways have been made by several model train brands around the world, such as Accucraft Trains (US), Aristo-Craft Trains (US), Bachmann Industries (Hong Kong) , Delton Locomotive Works (US), LGB (Germany) , and PIKO (Germany) . The Ferrocarril de Sóller and

56-486: Is the site of Silver Springs , a group of artesian springs and a historic tourist attraction that is now part of Silver Springs State Park . The community is part of the Ocala metropolitan area . It was first listed as a CDP for the 2020 census , at which time it had a population of 2,844. One of Florida's first tourist attractions, the springs drew visitors even before the U.S. Civil War . Glass-bottom boats have been

70-682: The National Register of Historic Places is located to the northeast. Several defunct tourist attractions were once located near Silver Springs. The Western-themed Six Gun Territory theme park , which included several attractions such as the Southern Railway & Six Gun 3 ft ( 914 mm ) narrow gauge railroad, operated from 1963 to 1984. The Wild Waters water park also existed in Silver Springs and operated from 1978 to 2016. Silver Springs

84-525: The Ocala National Forest . 3 ft gauge railways Three foot gauge railways have a track gauge of 3 ft ( 914 mm ) or 1 yard . This gauge is a narrow gauge and is generally found throughout North , Central , and South America . In Ireland , many secondary and industrial lines were built to 3 ft gauge, and it is the dominant gauge on the Isle of Man , where it

98-529: The Ocklawaha River . The main road through Silver Springs is State Road 40 which runs east and west from Rainbow Lakes Estates to Ormond Beach in Volusia County. State Road 326 terminates at SR 40, as does State Road 35 , which becomes County Road 35 north of SR 40 before terminating at SR 326. County Roads 314 and 314A are also important north-south county roads that run west and into

112-546: The 1920s, W. Carl Ray and W.M. "Shorty" Davidson, after leasing the land from Ed Carmichael (upon whose death the springs were left to the University of Florida ), developed the land around the headwaters of the Silver River into an attraction that eventually became known as Silver Springs Nature Theme Park . The attraction featured native animal exhibits, amusement rides, and 30 or 90-minute glass-bottom boat tours of

126-618: The bottom. At the lobby is ROOM: Valencia: a banquet facility, gift shop, and museum of the tower's history. Near the tower is the Presidents Hall of Fame, with wax tributes to 46 Presidents of the United States and a model of the interior of the White House . Silver Springs, Florida Silver Springs is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Marion County of northern Florida. It

140-559: The citrus groves in Lake County; this caused a decrease in visitation to the tower. In 1988, a tram was built to offer visitors tours of various citrus crops. The tower was purchased in 1995 by Greg Homan, who had it painted white and turquoise. In April 2015, the Citrus Tower was repainted in its original color scheme, with orange and white stripes. The Citrus Tower includes a coin drop where visitors can hear their coin drop to

154-402: The first several years of operation, the tower drew up to 500,000 visitors a year, thanks to its location on US 27 between Cypress Gardens and Silver Springs. However, in 1964 Florida's Turnpike was extended north, providing a faster route south through Central Florida . Since then, the tower has been sold several times. In the 1980s, three harsh freezes (1983, 1985 , and 1989) killed most of

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168-505: The springs. Silver Springs is in central Marion County and is bordered to the southwest by the city of Ocala , the county seat . According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the Silver Springs CDP has a total area of 6.2 square miles (16 km ), of which 0.03 square miles (0.08 km ), or 0.50%, are water. The springs, in the center of the community, flow out to form the Silver River , which runs 4 miles (6 km) east to

182-572: The springs. The 1934 'Princess Donna' is the oldest and only remaining operational boat from this bygone era. The " Princess Donna ' currently operates on the Rainbow River in Dunnellon, Florida. In 2013, the State of Florida took over operations of Silver Springs and combined it with the adjacent Silver River State Park to form the new Silver Springs State Park . The T. W. Randall House on

196-505: Was "whites only" until 1967. From 1949 to 1969, African Americans were served by nearby Paradise Park, Florida , which closed when Silver Springs integrated racially. Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach has been building the Adena Springs Ranch for cattle, an abattoir , residential property development, and a thoroughbred horse farm in the area, stirring concern over plans for water use and how groundwater draw will affect

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