Dogpatch Opening

Construction of Dogpatch, a theme park located at Marble Falls, Arkansas, about eight miles southeast of Harrison, on US Highway 7, began in 1967, and the park was not entirely finished when it held its grand opening on May 18, 1968, although most facilities had been completed. The theme of the park was based on the fictional town of Dogpatch from the comic strip Lil Abner by cartoonist Al Capp, and Capp was one of the stockholders in the venture.
The park, which was open for many activities even before the grand opening, featured an old-time village with an inn, an old mill, and a hillside stable. Most of the buildings that made up the village were old log structures moved to the park from the surrounding Ozarks. The mill used an old mill wheel that was also salvaged from the surrounding countryside. The mill, put into operation as Mammy Yokum's Grist Mill, let visitors see the old-fashioned method of grinding corn and wheat. The stable offered stage coach rides and trail rides on horses and burros. A narrow-gauge railroad was also constructed to carry passengers around the park.
A cold stream running through the park fed two small lakes that were stocked for trout fishing by visitors. No license was required, and fishing equipment was provided. The fisherman merely paid for the amount of fish he hauled in, and he could also have it cooked at the village restaurant. Picnic tables and benches were scattered throughout the park, and hiking trails wound through the 825-acre complex.
In addition to the park itself, a hospitality center was built at Dogpatch Cavern a short distance to the north on Highway 7 to greet visitors as they approached the park.
On May 18, Al Capp was present to give a dedicatory address, and other dignitaries included Arkansas lieutenant-governor Maurice Britt, US representative John Paul Hammerschmidt, Miss Arkansas, and folk singer Jimmy Driftwood.
All shops were open for the grand opening day, and activities included skits by Dogpatch characters, performances by various musicians, square dancing, and a fish fry.
In his address, Capp, reflecting on how his cartoon characters and his fictional town had been transformed into life-sized reality, said, "It is terribly exciting to see everything suddenly arrive real after just being a little sketch on paper." At the conclusion of Capp's speech, a large statue of General Jubilation T. Cornpone, one of the main characters in the comic strip, was unveiled to serve as the centerpiece of the park. Gazing at the statue as the cover fell away, Capp remarked, "Don't that just make you proud to be an American?"
The theme park did pretty well at first, and the name of the Marble Falls post office was changed to Dogpatch. But attendance, even the first year when the park drew about 300,000 visitors, never quite lived up to the expectations of its promoters. Attendance gradually declined during succeeding years, and Dogpatch never seriously challenged Silver Dollar City as the premier attraction in the Ozarks. Lil Abner, Daisy Mae Scruggs, Jubilation T. Cornpone, and company shut up shop for good in 1993, and name of the post office was changed back to Marble Falls a few years later.