Silver Dollar City beginnings…

In 1950, Hugo, the step-father of Jack and Peter Herschend, acquired a long-term lease on Marvel Cave near Branson. Later, the Herschend brothers opened Silver Dollar City, a re-creation of an 1880’s Ozark mining town, as a place to entertain visitors to Marvel Cave while they waited to take the cave tour. However, in its first year, Silver Dollar City drew four times as many visitors as the cave! The rest is history.