As the end of the school year approaches, many parents are deciding where to take their children for summer break. And when I think back on the places in Arkansas my parents took me on summer vacation, Dogpatch U.S.A. immediately comes to mind.
If you grew up in Arkansas in the 70s and 80s, chances are you and your family went to Dogpatch at least once or twice as well.
Dogpatch U.S.A. was located on Highway 7 between Harrison and Jasper. Today the area is known by its original name, Marble Falls. Dogpatch was an amusement park based on the comic strip "Li’l Abner" by Al Capp. The cartoon was set in the fictional town of Dogpatch.
In 1966, Albert Raney listed his family's trout farm with Harrison real estate agent O. J. Snow. Snow visited the property and had an epiphany: Raney’s trout farm would be the perfect setting for an amusement park centered around a pioneer theme. Snow believed the area's geography resembled those pictured in Capp’s comic strip.
Snow and several Harrison businessmen created Recreation Enterprises Inc. to develop the former trout farm. The group’s first task was to get permission from Capp to develop a park based on the characters and location in his cartoon. According to the Arkansas Gazette, Snow sent Capp several home movies of the property and descriptions of the proposed attractions. Snow planned a variety of activities for the theme park, including horseback riding, train rides, local arts and crafts shops, and a music venue for national and local performers. Li'l Abner comic-strip characters would roam the park in costume and interact with the visitors.
Capp previously had rejected other offers to use his characters in theme parks, but eventually agreed to Snow’s proposal and became a partner in the venture. Capp claimed he had once driven through the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and had pictured the area for the locale of his fictional "Dogpatch" town. In January 1967, Capp's attorneys finalized the agreement with Recreation Enterprises that granted the group the rights to use Capp’s characters and place names.
But not everyone was happy about the theme park. Many state officials and residents objected to Dogpatch, believing it would encourage the negative hillbilly stereotypes Arkansas had had such a difficulty shedding.
Capp attended the groundbreaking ceremony at Dogpatch U.S.A. on Oct. 3, 1967. The first phase of the project cost $1.3 million and included construction of the first buildings and rides. The second phase — including the construction of a train from the park to Marble Falls, a tram from the parking lot to the park entrance, the "Skunk Hollow" section of the park, a motel and a golf course — was completed over the next two years.
In 1968, the name of the local post office was officially changed from Marble Falls to Dogpatch. Over 300,000 visitors came to Dogpatch U.S.A. in its opening year. People from all over the state and nation made the trip to ride the rides, listen to music, experience homemade crafts and food, and of course, take pictures with Li’l Abner, Daisy Mae and a creature called the Shmoo. My parents still have many photos of li’l Darrell with the residents of Dogpatch.
In October 1968, Arkansas businessman Jess Odom purchased the park and hired former Gov. Orval Faubus as Dogpatch’s general manager. In the years to come, Dogpatch changed ownership several times. In 1991, the park dropped the name Dogpatch U.S.A. and stopped using Capp’s characters in an effort to save money. The park closed permanently on Oct. 14, 1993.
In March 2020, Johnny Morris, owner of Bass Pro Shops, purchased the old Dogpatch land in a foreclosure sale for $1.2 million. In 2021, Morris shared some early plans for a nature park with the Buffalo River Conservation Committee, but no improvements have been made to the property.
Today, what was once Dogpatch U.S.A. is a ghost town, with only the memories of thrilling rides, the music of such stars as Reba McEntire, and something called a Shmoo remaining.
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