You guys crack me up. You know if Mary was still alive the park would be completely Art Deco by now. Each decade was another version of the park with Mary in charge. It just so happened to stop at 1880s.
You might as well embrace the fact the theme has changed. The new people they brought into the front office don't get the 1880s theme - shoot most guests don't either. They do get generic mining and cowboy themes and that's what we have now.
To be totally honest did the park ever have a set theme anyway? It always seemed to be a moving target. As a example what 1880's Ozark village ever had a saloon based on something out of Deadwood or Dodge City. Then you have the mining sub theme mixed in too.
To my knowledge they always targeted the theme of recreating Marmaros. I thought the whole "keep the city exactly 100 years in the past" thing was a brief experiment from the late 80's. Gaslight Square was introduced in 1989... Maybe some ideas are getting crossed here, but I think Mary always wanted to develop the park as a respectful, romanticized example of a historic Ozark mining town.
The sign is not the type of thing that gets me up in arms anymore. Years ago when this site was getting off the ground, we were still pointing out things like inconsistencies in architecture and exposed cash registers, but we knew we were fighting a losing battle. That era has come and gone. It pretty much died with Wildfire (I know we can argue the exact year, but that's not the point).
Swoosh is right that the people in place now simply don't and can't get the "old" park and all it's nuances that made it special and unique not just among theme parks but among special places in the world. Just like with everything else, those memories are literally dying off with the passing into a new generation. Kids growing up now have always know the park as a place full of rides rather than a crazy hidden tree village with various attractions.
Instead of letting myself get hung up over the inevitable changes that come from growing into a multinational corporation, I focus on the big things. As long as they keep going above and beyond with the effort to stand out from among other theme parks, I'll be a fan. There are still many things that will get me up in arms, such as the seemingly inevitable demolition of the Flooded Mine and FITH, but we'll see how that all plays out.