Dogpatch USA is a pretty infamous place here
in Arkansas
Dogpatch USA is a pretty infamous place here
in Arkansas with. It was a rustic themed amusement park that opened in the late
1960s based on the fictional town of Dog patch from the Al Capp comic strip "Lil
Abner". It had a pretty ambitious opening but, never had too much success. This
can be attributed to lots of problems. For instants one of the owners tried to
turn the park into a year round attraction by building a ski resort. I'm sure
you can guess how well a ski resort in the Ozarks worked out. Also, it's about
20 minutes from Branson, where you can get everything Dogpatch had on a much
grander scale. The park limped along and changed owners several times. Finally
in 1993 it was shut down.
Most people from Arkansas who were 25 plus visited the park when it was open and
have vivid memories. When I ask people what it was like it's always very
interesting. The main attraction was the trout pond that the park was built
around. You could cast a reel in and catch a fish. Then they would clean it and
cook it for you at the resturaunt. They less than a dozen rickety rides that were
apparently down right terrifying because they seemed like they would collapse
any moment. There was a "stink house" that was basically what it sounds like.
You go inside and it smelled bad, like a skunk I suppose. Also, before the Lil
Abner franchise was dropped, characters from the comic strip roamed the park in
costumes.
The park has sat virtually abandoned since 1993. It has been a gold mine for
urban explorers. It's as if they just shut the gate and walked out and never
came back. Since it's out in the middle of no where with no one guarding it, it
was really easy just to go in and walk around. I visited the park last summer
and took these pictures.
EDIT: Found a few more, these were taken by my girl friend in 2004
I wasn't there very long and didn't take as many pictures as I had hoped to.
There are TONS of pictures of this place online though:
http://www.undergroundozarks.com/gallery/dogpatch
http://www.pointedstick.net/colter/plog/04/dogpatch/
http://www.chuckballphotos.com/imag...ch04/index.html
http://images.google.com/images?q=+...=&start=20&sa=N
There have been allot of rumors lately about the place being reopened. Then some
guy started posting pictures of the park cleaned up on an UE site I visit. I
managed to contact the guy and get some information about it. Apparently, the
new owners have a quit claim on the property and are working during the weekends
to clean the place up. After 12 years of neglect it may be reopened once more by
next summer. Here are some shots of the progress:
http://gallery.uneekonline.com/imag...&g2_itemId=1925|
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