A few more fun facts about SDC:
-The lower portion of Hill Street, from the Powderkeg/FITH area back up to where the rest rooms are under the woodcarving shop, are all a part of the old stagecoach pathways.
-Did you know that the tower at the Lumbercamp entrance originally had a platform where musicians performed for people in the dining area and standing in line for the saloon?
-For much of the 1980 season, two Hollywood stunt men performed little skits around the city, jumping from the windmill on Main Street, jumping off the roof of the diving bell into a boat on Lake Silver, and going across from the saloon balcony to the lumbercamp on a cable slide. They were a bit too rowdy for Midwestern tastes, and after one of them had an unpleasant exchange with a guest, they were fired and no longer appeared on park.
-Did you know that the first few years the city was open, the entire guest parking lot was the Main Street area where the gazebo and seating are?
-Later, as the city grew and expanded, parking was moved to the area where Flooded Mine is, and guests walked into the city over the swinging bridge above Half Dollar Holler.
-About 1970, the growing city meant parking was moved again. The entire parking lot was the area where trams now turn around at, and a small portion of the handicapped parking area.
-In the old days when there was a lot of hype about attractions across the country, a business owner could make almost any claims about his tourist attraction...all done with a wink and grin in an effort to pull in more visitors. Marvel Cave was once known in this period as "America's Third Largest Cave." The slogan was painted on the train that brought guests up to the Hospitality House. When someone in the know disputed this claim, the slogan stopped being used sometime in the late 1970's.
-There are many work and business offices hidden in plain sight of guests. There are offices in the Hospitality House, in the Mill/Mine Restaurant complex, and on the second floors of the ticket booth building and Ozark Marketplace. Also above the ice cream shop and behind Grandfather's Mansion and the General Store.
-You will see the Silver Dollar City "Mary's Well House," an employee health facility, located along Hwy. 76 between SDC and Shepherd of the Hills, just before coming to the Inspiration Tower if you are headed back to Branson. It will be on your right. That was founder Mary Hershend's actual home from the 1960's thru the early 1980's. She lived there until she was unable to care for herself any longer, and Jack and Pete placed her in a nursing home just across the street from the subdivision Jack lived in (Branson North) at the time. My understanding is members of her family came to visit her EVERY day.
-The mill at the American Plunge entrance was initially used as the ticket booth for guests to have their "passport" punched if they paid a premium price for a ticket to tour attractions or the rides. The location was initially part of Jim Owen's Float Trip Ride. Part of the queue for the ride was to cross a little foot bridge in front of the mill, enter and get your ticket punched, then climb a short staircase and continue out the back of the mill to a bridge that crossed the float trip channel, and then you waited in the boat dock area to get on the ride. The inside of the mill was decorated with some authentic float trip photos taken in the 20s-40s in the local area, and some made up, silly portraits of SDC float trip guides. There was also a float trip office in the upper portion of the mill. The outside façade of the mill was used as the mill for the Beverly Hillbillies episodes shot at the park. The interior mill shots were shot in the real Sullivan's Mill.
-Next time you are around the Tree house, look at the concrete tree that used to be the entrance to the attraction. The doorway is boarded up, that is where a winding staircase went up to the little swinging bridge you crossed to get in the tree house. Next to that is another boarded up area, which was a tiny little area the guy working the attraction sat so he could punch your "passport" premium ticket for attractions and rides.
-Next time you go into the Flooded Mine, you will see the little building at the entrance, which also was initially used as a ticket booth to punch "passport" premium tickets.
-The queue area of lost river is part of the old diving bell attraction. Tell tale signs of the diving bell are all around there. The only strongly visible thing to most guests is the "Dugan Salvage Yard" sign on the side of the building facing the Smoke House/Rib House Restaurant. That area served as the little playground next to the diving bell queue line area.
All around the park are examples of old things that have been discontinued at the park. As you visit in 2014, look around closely and you will see the old passport ticket booths at the older attractions, you will see doors and windows to work offices, you will see what remains of the old stagecoach paths, and you can tell when a building has been repurposed to another use. The signs are all around you if you know where to look.
