Customer Reviews

The story of Silver Dollar City: A pictorial history of Branson's famous Ozark Mountain village theme park

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I visited Silver Dollar City many times as I was growing up, and this book provides a nice taste of what it was like way back when.

Two caveats: First, this is apparently an official history with SDC Inc.'s imprimatur, so missteps are glossed over or more frequently ignored. Second, perhaps in a related note, the history section of the book pretty much stops at 1983; it describes additions to the park almost bulding-by-building through the mid-60s, a little about major additions through the mid-70s, how the park is "now" (1997-1999), but precious little about how the park evolved between 1980 and now.

Having said all that, I enjoyed the heck out of this book. Great historic photos greet every turn of the page. Favorites: B&W photo showing current town square being used as the parking lot; map of park in mid-60s, pre-Flooded Mine; and a full 1980 souvenir map. It left me wanting much more. What ever happened to the Outpost near Leasburg? Why was the innovative Rube Dugan's Diving Bell removed? (Misspelled "Duggin" in the book's brief mention.) What was the story behind Wally Welch, forever immortalized in a View-Master reel? How about maps showing exactly how and when the park expanded? It seems like it would be easy to write a book twice this long, but I'm thankful for what I've got.

As an aficionado of Silver Dollar City I very much enjoyed this concise history of one of America's premier theme parks, located near Branson, Missouri. Author Crystal Payton presents the history of S.D.C. in an interesting and easy to read style with plenty of great illustrations, from it's humble beginnings near the entrance to Marble Cave (now Marvel Cave) to the present time. The book itself is a large format paperback of high quality. The theme of S.D.C., in case you don't know, centers around the 1880's, most everything there has a flavor of that time, even the roller coasters and other rides. Payton also covers in detail attractions at today's S.D.C., including food, crafts, festivals, music, and of course rides, etc.. I especially liked the text and pictures about when "The Beverly Hillbillies" filmed on location at S.D.C. in 1969, I think that show is one of the best ever! "You've Got A Great Past Ahead Of You" (one of the slogans of S.D.C.) describes this park perfectly, this book is well worth the money.