Description
Salvage History: In 2015, the "Geyser Gulch" water park was disassembled to make room for the new "Fireman's Landing" attraction. Our salvage crew featured this job on the DIY Network show "Salvage Dawgs", Season 4, Episode 1.
Condition: Good condition for age and use. Minor surface scuffs as expected with age. Vivid color shows little or no fading. Very minor, vertical wood separation at the midpoint of the sign, likely due to wood age, causing slight drying over time (shown in photographs).
Measurements: 24.5H x 2D x 145W,
Weight: 91 lbs.
History of Silver Dollar City:
In 1960, Chicagoans Hugo and Mary Herschends opened the village they called "Silver Dollar City", named for the promotional idea of giving visitors silver dollars as change. When vacationers returning home would pay for their gas and other purchases with silver dollars, people would ask where they got the coins, and the vacationers would describe the park and their Silver Dollar City adventure.
The park had a blacksmith shop, a general store, an ice cream parlor, a doll shop, and two 1800s authentic log structures which had been relocated and restored, the McHaffie homestead and the Wilderness Church. For entertainment, a small troupe of Silver Dollar City "citizens" dressed in 1880s costumes performed street theater, presenting humorous feuds between the Hatfields and the McCoys. The staff, including Herschends, was about 17 people.
In 1969, Silver Dollar City drew national attention when producer Paul Henning brought the cast and crew of the popular Beverly Hillbillies television show to the park to film five episodes.
By 1963 500,000 people visited the park and Silver Dollar City became Missouri's number one tourist attraction. By 1998, visitors were topping two million.
