We're all pretty young here...most of us range from our 20's to 40's at sdcfans. We talk alot about the 70's, 80's, and 90's, but has anyone raided mom and dad's or grandma and grandpa's old photo albums and slide carousels for photos of the REAL old days at SDC? I'm talking anything from 1960 through, say, 1975...the first fifteen years of the park. I would really like to see some shots from the old, old days at SDC. My stepdad told me the first time he visited the park, he parked where the flooded mine and woodcarvers building now stand, and walked across the swinging bridge into SDC! I've seen an overhead shot of main street when it was used as a parking lot. How about raiding the really old photo albums for pictures of the days when Pete Herschend played the town sheriff. Old videos or home movies on film would be great to see, too.
Feeling a little nostalgic today Junior? ;)
I agree though, I'm always fascinated to see the park when the roller coasters, and such weren't the main attraction.
I too pine for a time when SDC was the only investment on HFE's plate and there wasn't enough capital to invest in something as technical as (dare I say it) even Fire in the Hole. I like thinking about a time when everything before Rube Dugan's was built in house and on site. The age before partnerships and off-the-shelf mechanics.
Yeah, good feelings on a bright sunny Sunday morning when the main priority was heading to the Wilderness chapel and buying a straw basket.
I have a fairly nice collection of 50-70's items. Several have been posted in other locations. I'll put a few up Monday on here!
I will have to dig through Moms collection of pictures and see what she has. I can remember the stage coach. I can remember a time when dinner time brought a pack house to the mine restaurant. The strip was nothing but a winding highway back then. The light where Walgreens is was nothing but a stop sign with another road crossing going??????? The only other place of business on highway 76 was SOTH.
Firstvisit67, you proceed my first trip by three years, so dig through mom's stuff and see what you can find. I really enjoy seeing pictures from long ago at SDC.
I feel like the old one here. I have been coming to SDC since I was 14 (1972) so I do remember alot of changes on the Strip and Branson in general.
If my memory is right the only fast thing at SDC was the American Plunge no roller coasters yet.
I was hooked on SDC in my teenage years, raised my son there since he was 2 and now working on my daughters which are 11. Last year my son has started the tradition with his children.
I am ready to retire and move to Branson.
Quote from: Twinsmom98 on April 12, 2010, 11:00:16 AMI am ready to retire and move to Branson.
Not trying to stray too far off topic, but when I get ready to retire I am going to move to Branson, and become a Wal-Mart greeter. :D
If there was someway to collectively put together all of the pictures, and memories that everyone here has of Silver Dollar's City's history, we would have one impressive book!
Oh, Ozark BBQ, sounds like YOU have a great idea for a big project! Get to work, 'cause I'm too busy with mine to start a new one, and sounds like Rube is, too! If you have a knack for writing, if you loved doing big term papers in high school or college, if you get permission from the people that have items you are interested in using, you can do it.
Oh I definitely have a knack for writing, but my knowledge of our favorite city pales in comparison to the wealth of rich memories, and stories the "old timers" here have.
Perhaps it could be done with a full collaboration, and team effort from everyone here. :)
I think with such a book, we should all have our names written in as the author. Hey, do you hear that? Sounds like thunder. There's a brainstorm in my head! :D
Not much longer for my book to be copmpleted. No worries in that almost all of my images posted on the wayback machine will be included in the work!
Talk about some rare gems! I imagine turning the pages of your book will be like opening up an old family treasure chest. :)
OK! I found a pathfinder map of SDC from 1970...and my, oh my, talk about changes from then to now! The Butterfield Hotel, which stood on the other side of the railroad tracks...all alone...is on this map. The Butterfield Hotel was an actual old two story farmhouse, pre-SDC, that was mentioned on the stagecoach ride as "fine lodging" for travelers! The stagecoach driver would really talk up the hotel, then the stagecoach would come around a bend, and in the distance visitors got to see this tumbledown building with broken chairs on the front porch and newspapers strewn about. They all got a pretty good laugh. The Butterfield Hotel was torn down over the winter of 78 or 79. It's the location today of part of the Wilson's Farm area by the giant swing. If you look at the map you will see the float trip ride, the tree top house, the old location of the Butterfield Stage Depot, the Vineyard restaurant, and the old location of the apple butter cabin and Oak Trail Schoolhouse...where the furniture factory is today. The original train depot on this map serves as the basket shop, and you will notice the float trip, stagecoach, tree house, Grandfather's Mansion, and train depot all have big black numbers next to them...these were the attractions you had to have the special "passport" tickets for to get into them. At the time there was one admission price for SDC shops and restaurants only, and the passport was for folks who wanted to do everything including the special attractions and rides. Anybody else remember when SDC looked like this? Check is out at my Flickr site...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juniordugan
I have again fired up the Wayback Machine for a jaunt into 1970 if you would like to take a look. Spurred by Juniors last post, I placed a ticket from the Frisco Silver Dollar Line that he was referring to. This one is a full ticket (not just the stub) for one Adult ride $0.50. Enjoy the nostalgia!
Everyone keeps mentioning the old Butterfield Hotel. However, since I wasn't even born yet when they tore it down, are there any pictures of it during its existence? What about the Butterfield Stage Depot? Is it still around in some form, or is it gone too?
That is an amazing map of Silver Dollar City Junior! I've never seen one that was so simple that the buildings were just squares, or simple geometric shapes. Better yet, it's interesting how there are no defined pathways on the map. Everything is just a shade of green! :D
Here is the link to the old Depot on the Wayback Machine
http://sdcfans.com/forums/index.php?topic=522.60 (http://sdcfans.com/forums/index.php?topic=522.60)
Quote from: rubedugans on April 13, 2010, 12:54:07 PM
Here is the link to the old Depot on the Wayback Machine
http://sdcfans.com/forums/index.php?topic=522.60 (http://sdcfans.com/forums/index.php?topic=522.60)
Unbelievable! Thanks rube! ;D
I went back to page one of the wayback machine and cruised through the whole thread. Sure did enjoy seeing all those great shots again. By the way, I searched through my material for a photo of the Butterfield Hotel and could not find one. I really wish I did have one, because I remember it as one of those unusual things you'd never see at the run of the mill theme park. One of the things I used to enjoy doing in 79 and 80, in my early days as an attractions worker, is take the old, abandoned stagecoach trail from Fire in the Hole (Where the Opera House and Powderkeg are now) through the woods behind the lumbercamp and float trip all the way to the float trip dock (loading area for American Plunge, now) it was a quiet, peacful, and pretty walk that I would take occasionally while on break. The neat thing about it was that the old stagecoach props from the stagecoach ride were still back there. There was an old "ghost town" consisting of about four false fronts, and behind the River Gang Clubhouse on the float trip there was a little area where the stage would stop and the stagecoach drivers would get the kids off the stage and a prop stagecoach that had "eyes" on the side of it was used to tell kids a little story before they got back on the stage and completed their trip. Yeah, the prop stagecoach with eyes would blink and move and tell the story. Weird, but I do remember it.
When you check out my link to the old SDC map, look at the picture I've posted next to it...I found a shot of the "STAGECOACH WITH EYES" prop I was talking about in the previous posting. Photo from the "From SIlver Dollar City Wish You Were Here" booklet published in 1978.