About Silver Dollar City
Silver Dollar City is a 1880s-themed park, opened on May 1, 1960, situated between Branson and Branson West, Missouri, on Highway 76 and it is owned by the Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation.
Silver Dollar City is one of the most popular theme parks in the United States, being located at the site of a local attraction, Marvel Cave – which is a National Natural Landmark. The first written record of Marvel Cave dates from an expedition in 1869, when an important mining magnate, Henry T. Blow of St. Louis, explored the cave with six miners. As they were convinced that the ceiling of one room is of marble, they named the cave Marble Cave. In 1882, another group entered the cave, hoping to find lead. They also considered that the flat wall is of marble, thus T. Hodges Jones with some of his friends bought the property and formed the Marble Cave Mining and Manufacturing Company. By 1889 no lead was found and the marble wall was in fact limestone, thus the mining company canceled all operation.
In 1889, William Henry Lynch, a Canadian miner, bought the cave along with a square mile around it with the intention to open it to sightseers. They started the sightseeing operations in 1894 and it is one of the oldest running tourist attractions in the Ozarks. The Lynch family operated Marble Cave for almost fifty years, until Hugo Herschend from Chicago purchased a 99 year lease on the cave. The Herschends made various improvements to the cave, such as a train that pulled tourists from the depths of the cave up to the surface. Anticipating the growing number of tourists to the Ozarks they began searching for new ways to expand the attraction.
After the death of Hugo in 1955, his wife and sons – Mary, Jack and Pete – started the construction of the 1880s Ozark village. They built the Ozark town on the land around the site of the cave. It was named by Ozark Jubilee script writer and publicist Don Richards following the promotional idea of giving tourists silver dollars in change.
In its first year, Silver Dollar City had more than 125,000 visitors, four times more visitors that those who visited Marvel Cave. The theme park received much publicity when The Beverly Hillbillies paid a visit to Silver Dollar City at the start of the 1969-1970 season and eventually, five episodes of the show were shot in the park.
In 1999, Silver Dollar City hosted the 14th annual Stihl Timbersports Series Championships. In December 2007, ABC’s Good Morning America named the theme park’s Christmas festival ‘An Old Time Christmas’ one of the top five holiday events in the US. On July 6, 2009, Silver Dollar City was the host of ACE’s national summer convention, welcoming coaster fans from all around the country.
The theme park consists of ten separate districts offering several attractions to tourists of all ages. Everyone will find something interesting and for its taste. The main attractions include Marvel Cave, Homestead Barnyard, The Train Depot; various demonstrations, such as the Hillcreek Pottery, Brown’s Candy Factory, Mountain Outfitter’s Knives; rides, such as American Plunge, Fire in the Hole, Grand Exposition Coaster, Flooded Mine or Racing Regatta. Silver Dollar City is also hosting six distinct festivals, including National Kid’s Fest, National Harvest Festival or ‘An Old Time Christmas.
