Western Town Tourist Traps

[ropingk]

I work real close to antire Road and I remember going there for a Haunted Old West town but I thought that the owners sold the town and it mover out to like High Ridge????

[the_p0ssum]

The website for the K of C Hall that's now there notes this little tidbit:

"For a small party up to 50 Don't forget the Saloon is also available for rental !!"

That seems to imply that the old Saloon may have been preserved.

I don't work too, too far from there, so maybe I'll drive by at lunch some time and see what's actually still standing.

[ropingk]

that would be cool do you remember the old Jesse james territory out near sullivan???

[Gravefindr]

I hadn't checked this post in a while and was pleasantly surprised to find there are some other people who remember Poco Loco and Gold Nugget Junction. I was beginning to think I was the only one. I too have heard that the buildings from Poco Loco were used for a haunted house for a couple of years and then were sold and moved. Most say they were moved to "St Louis" but no one can seem to tell me where. Anyway, thanks to everyone for sharing your memories of these two towns and especially thanks for the link to the picture of the the engine at Gold Nugget Junction. Gold Nugget Junction and Dogpatch were my favorite places to go as a kid. Anyone got any more pictures of these places? or even the other places that have been listed (that Jesse James territory sounds intersting)? Most of the kids I know now can't believe we liked these places - after all how could we possibly have had any fun when there were no wild rides to soak us or scare us?!

[Gravefindr]

Anyone know when Gold Nugget Junction shut down? I assume the buildings were dozed but how about all of the antiques, etc.?

[ropingk]

I never heard of Gold Nugget but the old Jesse James Terority was at SUllivan they had one of the hugh fiberglass statues of a cowboy in a black hat the town was really cool it had stage coaches and a train the normal stuff gun fights in the streets the sheffif would walk a prisoner to the gallows only to be foiled by the bad guys gang and yep you are right no million dollar rides and it was just so cool
The really sad part is they sold it to a developer who divided upi the 100 acres into several subdivisons

[lisa]

oh my gosh...I just stumbled across this. I LIVED for Gold Nugget Junction. I'm 45 years old now ..when I was a kid we went to Lake of the Ozarks every year for vacation. (this is gonna make me cry because my dad is now deceased)...we stayed at The Deer Run motel...the people that owned it always saved the same little 2 rooms for us. That is long gone I'm sure and both sets of owners I'm sure are also deceased. I would wake up in the morning to the sound of that whistle and LOVED the day it was Gold Nugget day. We did something different everyday. That was my FAVORITE. These photos are making me bawl!

Has anybody been down to Lake of the Ozarks to know if AnYTHING is the same? We always ate at a pizza place called "the barn"..it was THE BEST pizza. What about dogpatch? I remember going back in the back where they had an animated tombstone like place...then there were the 2 outhouses and you opened the door of the mans and the little guy told you to get out and shut the door. I spent hours just opening and closing that door. (I think I had a crush on him)...then I remember years down the road they had to put plastic up because people were vandalizing but yet there he was to greet you.

I want so bad to take my 2 teenagers down there but they will miss out on all of the "good memories" of there. Has it become just another Vegas/Branson strip line?

I remember Lee Mace and Goofer. I literally got sick the day we heard that Lee had died in a plane crash. That was like a family to me. We always talked to them when we were there. Then there was Denny Hilton (whom I had a crush on too)

any of this stuff still there? What about the dock? Can you still feed the Big Mouth Bass (aka CARP) ? I loved that.

I sent for a tourist book from there but it will take weeks to get here.

I wish somebody would go buy some land and build another Gold Nugget Junction...but to hear that beautiful old train that holds so many memories for me is in such bad shape makes me sad.

[lisa]

Ok I'm gonna keep going...what about ...do any of you remember the Wild Mouse rides? I think there were like 2 of them down there. I LOVED that thing. Probably unsafe as all get out but I loved it.

water slides? Do you remember those things that were built into the hillsides? Those were so cool!

REAL minature golf courses all over the place. Bumper car places that were just randomly placed. That huge arcade that had the BEST pinball machines.

Kids today are deprived of entertainment that has some value to it. I can picture in my mind all of the fun I had down there.

Back by that huge arcade was that building that housed that old western town train thing in a huge glass container. You put a quarter in it and for 15 minutes you could just sit there and watch the little train go around the town and everytime you looked at it you saw something you didn't see before.

how bout that funky maze thing? The crazy house or something they called it...water ran up hill ...when you went in it you were almost running cuz it felt like you were tipping over.

Oh my gosh this brings back so much!

[the_p0ssum]

Looks like Dogpatch is still there. Click Here

This link also references the Arcades as still being there. Click Here

[ropingk]

Im, kinda gonna guess you havent beenon this site to much
Dogpatch is still there but not as it once was it was closed for years and is not goinjg through a redevelopment stages we are not sure what it is going to be plus the train is still mssing

[Willard]

Im, kinda gonna guess you havent beenon this site to much
Dogpatch is still there but not as it once was it was closed for years and is not goinjg through a redevelopment stages we are not sure what it is going to be plus the train is still mssing

Talking about the one up by Lake of the Ozarks, which isn't the same as the one in Arkansas. The Lake of the Ozarks one is still around and a bunch of us were wondering at one time if it was still there or not.

[ropingk]

Ok sorry my bad

[lisa]

Yeah it's the one by Lake of the Ozarks I was asking about. Those pictures that were with that link were how I remember dogpatch (LOTO) I know Gold Nugget Junction is no longer around. (anybody know if the property is still around and buildings) or did they take the train away and everything down?

Would love to hear comments too from anybody who has been there recently...the changes/similarities. Gosh in reading when it started my folks probably started taking me down there in the early early 70's...it was still kind of new and taken care of.

[lolabelle]

There were a couple of tourist attractions designed to be old west towns

so there's this place called Silver Dollar City...

[Willard]

There were a couple of tourist attractions designed to be old west towns

so there's this place called Silver Dollar City...

Interestingly enough Brad Thomas, the second to last manager of Heer's from 1990 to 1992 when Kline Bros. owned it is working in management at Silver Dollar City now.. Actually that's why he left Heer's in 1992.