Silver Dollar City

If we were to tell you that there was a place called Silver Dollar City, where would you think it would be located? You probably would not guess "Branson, Missouri." And yet that is exactly where Silver Dollar City is because Silver Dollar City is not a city, but a theme park.

The 1880s theme park that is the Silver City of today started out as part of a place that was set up to give tours of caves in the summer. Now, if you have not been cave exploring lately, you might not realize just how beautiful and awe-inspiring it can be (in the right cave).

At first, the cave was the main attraction and it drew lots of visitors. But eventually the family who ran to tours saw tha tit might be to their advantage to spruce things up near and around the cave as well. And that is how Silver City was born.

They got the idea to recreate an 1880s village, like the one that had been there when people mined the cave for bat guano. Did you think there was silver being mined in Silver Dollar City? No, there was no silver to be had there.

Instead, the name Silver Dollar City was related to a marketing promotion. When Silver Dollar City opened in 1960, the owners had a great idea: to give park visitors their change in silver dollars. Rather than spend lost of money on an ad campaign, they let the news of Silver Dollar City spread by word of mouth. Park visitors would go back to their hometowns and pay for things with the silver dollars. When people asked where they had gotten the silver dollars from, visitors would talk about the theme park. Although, some visitors probably talked about their visit to Silver Dollar City without being asked.

That was a great marketing tactic. Visitors surely remembered the fun they had at recreated 1880s village and seeing other area attractions. The silver dollars were a memento to cement the experience in their minds, so they would want to return. And then when they told other people about how they got the silver dollars, those people would be curious and plan their own trips to Silver Dollar City.

Of course it is hard to imagine people using silver dollars to make change on a regular basis now. However, you can sell silver dollars and other silver coins to a silver buyer to get cash for silver.