Republic of the Children
Manuel Bernardo Gonnet, Argentina · built 1951
The Children's Republic (República de los Niños), is a theme park located in La Plata, Argentina. With a surface of 53 hectares (130 acres), and 35 scale buildings, it is regarded as the first theme park in the Americas. The Republic represents a city (proportionally sized for children) with all its institutions: parliament, government house, the courthouse, church, port, theater, airport, restaurants, hotels, etc. It was built by the "Investor Institute of the Province of Buenos Aires" on 53 hectares of land where the Swift Golf Club had its course. It was inaugurated on November 26, 1951, by President Juan Domingo Perón. Its architectural similarity to Disneyland allowed the emergence of an urban myth, which affirms that Walt Disney was inspired in this park to found several years later the one located in California.
AmusementPark data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).