Silver Dollar City Street Map

You Have A Great Playground Ahead of You!

The history of Missouri’s Silver Dollar City theme park is a fascinating one. Henry T. Blow, son of Peter and Elizabeth Blow (owners of the slave Dred Scott, though Henry was an abolitionist), led an expedition in the area in the late 1860s. After a career as a U.S. Representative and ambassador to Venezuela, Blow returned to his adoptive home state to speculate in mining opportunities.

In search of lead, he explored ‘Marble Cave’ (it was really limestone) but the real value lay within in the masses of bat guano, used for gunpowder and fertilizer. A small mining town, Marmaros, sprung up in the mid-1880s, but it became a ghost town after the closure of the Marble Cave Mining and Manufacturing Company. The property was resold and the cave system was opened for public tours (by lantern or candlelight) around the turn of the century. An amusement park grew around the site in the style of the late 19th century and continues to operate today as Silver Dollar City.

This promotional bird’s eye view of the amusement park was illustrated by Dennis Jones and copywritten by Wiskur and Company, Inc. in 1981. It was sold as a souvenir and provides a vibrantly illustrated overview of the various rides and attractions available to guests.