Author Topic: SDC Memories  (Read 20396 times)

MoOzark

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #15 on: April 29, 2015, 01:37:09 PM »
I’ve heard that back in the late 50s and early 60s, Disneyland used throw away signs and props and they didn’t think they had any value. Now, they have an extensive archive of things. They have at least one movie poster from every film Disney ever released. Many of the individual posters are worth tens of thousands of dollars. I’ve always wondered why they have never built a major museum to display some of the stuff. A few items are in a small museum focused on the life of Walt Disney. It is at Disney Studios. But they DO have much more that is never seen by anyone but the curators.

Recently, I actually discussed my idea for a SDC museum with one of the owners. I said it would be great to have a museum that not only told the story of Silver Dollar City but would also have exhibits on Ozark culture and area history. I suggested having areas dedicated to SDC rides of the past. For example: it would be absolutely amazing to have one of the pods from Rube Dugan’s, in a place where folks could actually walk through it. Maybe it could even run the old ride video on the screen. If no pods have survived, surely a reasonable facsimile could be constructed. However, as I was going on-and-on with my wild ideas, he stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. He was smiling as he replied, “Well, I don’t think that most people who come to Silver Dollar City these days are as crazy about history as you and I are.”     

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #16 on: April 29, 2015, 08:57:35 PM »
That was his kind way of saying don't hold your breath for a museum. It likely won't happen, but we can dream.
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KBCraig

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #17 on: May 05, 2015, 09:35:20 PM »
You'd think that with the Herschends' close ties to College of the Ozarks, the Ralph Foster museum would be the natural place for an SDC historical exhibit.

pintrader

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #18 on: May 07, 2015, 09:31:50 PM »
Made a trip to SDC today and they were passing out these flyers.  Said Frisco Jack would be doing this for the next 10 days starting tomorrow.  Not quite a historical exhibit but there is some interest being shown to at least tell some history. 


MoOzark

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #19 on: May 08, 2015, 11:20:06 AM »
Made a trip to SDC today and they were passing out these flyers.  Said Frisco Jack would be doing this for the next 10 days starting tomorrow.  Not quite a historical exhibit but there is some interest being shown to at least tell some history. 

I have talked with Frisco Jack. He knows a lot of history and has some really good stories. He and I have argued, politely of-course, about some of the history concerning the Marble Cave Mine and Marmaros. I would really love to listen to his talk and I think I'll try to get into to one of his presentations.

Duelist

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #20 on: May 11, 2015, 08:25:21 PM »
^^ We went to Frisco Jack's talk on Saturday.  I had heard a lot of it before but there was some stuff I didn't know.  Thanks for the heads up on that, Pintrader!
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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #21 on: May 12, 2015, 07:35:09 AM »
Your welcome Duelist....I am going to try and catch him Thursday when I am down there.  But when there is all that great Bluegrass music going on around it might be hard to do....lol.

joshblakebran

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #22 on: May 12, 2015, 01:28:43 PM »
Wished he was doing it through the summer...we won't be able to get down there until the end of June...I'd love to here his presentation
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MoOzark

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #23 on: May 14, 2015, 11:01:31 AM »
I made a special trip to SDC yesterday to listen to Frisco Jack’s presentation. It was NOT very well attended with only 4 people there. Like Duelist said, he told some interesting stuff I had not heard before. I talked to Frisco Jack before it started. He said this talk was a special thing SDC was doing for high school kids this week. There are 4 different lectures they can attend. The s SDC talk is only one of several he is doing this week. He also speaks on other history topics, such as: The Panic of 1837, The War of 1812, and several others.

I wanted one of the flyers than Pintrader posted and I wanted Frisco Jack to autograph it. Frisco Jack did NOT know what I was talking about. ??? He said he had not seen any such flyer. SO: If any one has an extra, or can tell where to get one, please let-me-know. Someone at SDC probably still has a stack of these.

pintrader

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #24 on: May 14, 2015, 10:37:53 PM »
I wanted one of the flyers than Pintrader posted and I wanted Frisco Jack to autograph it. Frisco Jack did NOT know what I was talking about. ??? He said he had not seen any such flyer. SO: If any one has an extra, or can tell where to get one, please let-me-know. Someone at SDC probably still has a stack of these.


Wow!  I thought my memory was bad.  We were at the Picker's Shed waiting for the 3:45 show a week ago when Frisco Jack brought the flyers up and handed them to Danny Eakin personally.  Told Danny to hand them out to anyone that wanted one and would be passing out more to get the word out.  Oh well!  maybe he got confused somehow.

Joy

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #25 on: May 17, 2015, 08:12:42 PM »
I have talked with Frisco Jack. He knows a lot of history and has some really good stories. He and I have argued, politely of-course, about some of the history concerning the Marble Cave Mine and Marmaros. I would really love to listen to his talk and I think I'll try to get into to one of his presentations.

Was that disagreement about just how small or big Marmaros actually was?

MoOzark

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #26 on: May 21, 2015, 09:09:07 PM »
Was that disagreement about just how small or big Marmaros actually was?

As for the history of Marmaros: some of the people I have interviewed are minimalists and others are maximalists. For example, Walker Powell told me that Marmaros “was nothin’ but a few old sheds.” He doesn't believe there was anything resembling a town there.

Frisco Jack is a maximalist. He believes it was a good sized town with homes, a general store, hotel, post office, blacksmith shop, school, pottery factory, and furniture factory. His idea of the guano mining operation is much grander than Powell’s. The only thing that I really argued with Frisco Jack about was the locations of some of the buildings and existing original photographs. I have not seen any evidence that the Marmaros General Store was at the same location as the SDC General Store. But, it could have been. Also, I still have NOT seen any photographs of any part of Marmaros. I’m still hoping that one will appear.

On the other hand, I discussed all this with Jack H. who knew and talked to Charley Sullivan back in the 1950s. Sullivan lived in Marmaros as a boy in the 1880s and is the only eyewitness to have come forward that I know of. Jack H. believes that most of the oral tradition about Marmaros is true. However, I asked him about the original foundations. He said that the only foundation that was still there in the 1950s was that of the old hotel. It had a perimeter foundation of stacked rocks. But, the majority of Ozark buildings did NOT have a foundation then. They usually had only a few flat rocks at the corners to hold up the sills.

Now, I have taken all this info and tried to find written sources for it. I have been surprised, so far, at what I have found in old newspaper articles. Most of the tradition seems to be true as far as I can tell, with a few exceptions. There was a school at Marmaros but not until the mid-1890s and this was after the rest of the town burned. Also, I have NOT found any evidence of the pottery works or the furniture factory, at least not any written sources before the 1960s. But, the research goes on.

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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #27 on: May 21, 2015, 09:22:02 PM »
Yes it's kind of maddening.  The stuff we want to know the most about has so little evidence.
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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #28 on: May 21, 2015, 10:18:01 PM »
^^I love reading this.
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Re: SDC Memories
« Reply #29 on: May 21, 2015, 10:31:47 PM »
By the way, here's a link to an article about the Bald Knobbers in Missouri Lifehttp://www.missourilife.com/life/playing-for-blood/.

I've come to think of Marmaros sort of like Camelot:  it is a romanticized version of unrecorded history that should never die.
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