[music playing] ANNOUNCER: The following program is a production of Ozarks Public Television.

NARRATOR: Branson, Missouri and the surrounding area has always been known for its majestic waters and beautiful Ozarks scenery.

It is also known as a live entertainment capital with over 100 shows on and around the famous 76 strip.

From wonderful outdoor attractions, informative and entertaining museums, and unique shopping experiences to world-class theme parks and quality golf courses, the Branson area is truly a family destination.

With millions of visitors flocking to a town that is home to a population of just over 10,000 people, you must wonder how this all happened.

The evolution of the Branson area.

The Branson area, located on the upper White River Valley, has welcomed visitors to this region since the early 19th century.

BROOKS BLEVINS: Some of the earliest immigrants in the 19th century into the Branson area, into the White River Valley, were actually Native Americans.

Primarily it was Osage.

Now, there were several others.

The Delawares are one that people are aware of.

They tended to be more a little north of here.

But in this area, it was primarily the Osage.

Even more than 200 years ago, even before 1820, the earliest white settlers had started to trickle into that far up the White River Valley into the Forsyth area.

And they were mainly your kind of classic upland Southerners.

NARRATOR: These settlers were from states like Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia.

LESLIE WYMAN: The early settlers in the Branson area tended to have farms of about 300 acres.

Now, the eastern part of the county tended to have larger ones because the bottom land was better there.

Taney County was formed in 1837 and named for the then Attorney General Roger Brooke Taney, pronounced "tawney" in the East, "taney" in the West.

Branson wasn't a town.

There was a community here.

BROOKS BLEVINS: They were from the hills, for the most part, wherever they came from, settled in the hills here, and were able to replicate their lifestyles without a whole lot of change.

NARRATOR: Like the rest of our young nation, the settlers in this region felt the effects of the Civil War.

After the Civil War, there were reportedly between 30 and 40 murders with no convictions.

It was a lot of the people during the Civil War had left this area, and as they came back, it was just a period of lawlessness.

NARRATOR: In 1884, a group of businessmen in the area decided to form a citizen's committee to help bring law and order back to Taney County.

LESLIE WYMAN: The Law and Order League was not designed to be a vigilante group.

They pledged to assist the Sheriff and his deputy, but they primarily met on a mountain near Kirbyville.

And it was bald on top because the growth hadn't taken over the top.

Snapp's Bald is what it was called.

So that's where they got the nickname the Bald Knobbers.

They're going to provide justice when there wasn't any justice, when there wasn't any law and order, when the sheriffs couldn't take care of everything.

As the towns and the cities and the counties grew, the Bald Knobbers would do that.

And unfortunately, they simply changed into the other side and became more outlaws and vigilante which then required the state government to come in and remove them.

BROOKS BLEVINS: Well, White River and its tributaries were really the-- they were the foundation for early tourism in the region, and that really starts with guided fishing trips that began even before the railroad shows up in Branson in that area.

They began in the late 1800s where sportsmen from St. Louis and Kansas City and even Springfield come down, and they hired guides to take them on these sometimes week-long trips.

NARRATOR: In 1902, the Missouri Pacific Railway wanted to move lead and zinc from Joplin and Carthage, Missouri, so they began constructing the White River Railway.

This segment of track would go from Carthage to Batesville, Arkansas.

The line was completed in December of 1905 and passed through the area that would become Branson.

In 1906, the train did bring its first passengers in.

And as passengers could start coming in, of course then some of the church camps in both Branson and Hollister area and tourist camps were able to form.

JEAN BABCOCK: Trains were communication and transportation.

They were important to everybody.

All the market things-- the cotton, the tobacco, the corn, later the tomatoes and strawberries could go by train to market instead of bouncing down the White River.

NARRATOR: The small community forming on this section of the White River in the late 1800s and early 1900s attracted some small businesses and one key person in particular.

JIM BABCOCK: Reuben Branson was basically a merchant.

While he was in northeastern Taney County, he acquired a post office commission, which he then, when he moved his business, general store type business to Branson, he then was the postmaster for about four years.

During Reuben's time here, the railroad companies printed maps-- best maps of the country in that time.

And one of them was a postmaster's map.

And there was a suspicion that probably 90% of the towns west of the Mississippi were named for their postmasters to get on that map, which Branson was.

On April 1, 1912 with a population of maybe 500 or 600 people petitioning for incorporation.

NARRATOR: Just a few months after Branson became an official town, tragedy struck.

Because in August of 1912, the town almost burned down.

There was a hotel owned by the Winch family called the Commercial Hotel.

And it was, of course, hot and dry the way it gets around here.

And the laundry woman was doing laundry in the back room, and a spark flew out, caught the building on fire.

And they couldn't stop it.

JEAN BABCOCK: The community immediately made a bucket brigade from the river to save the bank.

JIM BABCOCK: Further down Main Street to which the fire didn't quite reach was Henry Sellinger's saloon and boardinghouse.

That was saved.

And the depot was saved.

So the three important buildings-- the bank, the saloon, and the depot-- were saved.

NARRATOR: The Branson community rallied afterward and quickly rebuilt, rising like a phoenix from the ashes.

In 1910, the Ozark Power and Water Company received authorization from Congress to build a dam on the White River located just South of Forsyth at Ozark Beach.

This dam, commonly called Powersite Dam, would be completed in 1913.

And it became the first hydroelectric dam in the state of Missouri.

And creates what today we wouldn't even consider much of a lake at all, but Lake Taneycomo, a small lake.

It's a small dam.

By the standards of the early 20th century, it became a really important vacation area.

By this time, the railroad was already in place and had been for a few years.

So it was easy for people to get there.

Entrepreneurs are able to turn into a resort area.

And you have Rockaway Beach, and you have these different little resort areas that pop up on this small lake there.

NARRATOR: With outdoor tourism growing steadily with the creation of Lake Taneycomo, another form of tourism was also taking shape west of Branson.

It was literary tourism inspired by the popularity of Harold Bell Wright's book "The Shepherd of the Hills," which was published in 1907 just after the railroad arrived.

JEFF JOHNSON: Harold Bell Wright was a Christian minister who-- he was born in New York, but traveled into the Ozarks in the late 1890s.

But he was a traveling minister who kind of had some health issues.

And so he was coming to this area to do some fishing and kind of revive himself a little bit.

And he had an uncle that lived south of here, and he was trying to cross over the White River.

And it was flooded really bad out of its banks that year.

So he hiked back up the hill a little ways and landed right here on the porch of the John and Anna Ross homestead here.

His friendship with the Rosses-- they built a platform for his tent.

And he came every summer for eight years.

JIM BABCOCK: Harold Bell Wright, an author of America's first bestseller, over a million copies.

And laughingly, we say, everybody in the country read it because they got on the train to come down here and meet the people and see the countryside.

NARRATOR: The Rosses' cabin, which was just west of Branson, is the setting for Old Matt's cabin in Harold Bell Wright's novel.

This structure quickly became an iconic landmark for visitors to see.

The cabin fell into disrepair until 1926 when Lizzie McDaniel from Springfield took over the property, restored the cabin, and started conducting tours.

JEFF JOHNSON: Well, she felt it was very important.

And to continue the story and the telling of the story, she actually put a two-act play on the lawn of the cabin.

So she entertained guests and understood the importance of what it meant to the area.

NARRATOR: After Lizzie passed away in 1946, the property eventually ended up with Dr. Bruce Trimble and his wife Mary.

Dr. Trimble was a history professor and opened Old Matt's barn as a museum and gift shop and gave tours of the original Old Matt's cabin.

Dr. Trimble passed away in 1957, and his son Mark took the reins of "The Shepherd of the Hills."

Mark, in 1960, opened the play.

And at the time, there was a play downtown on the waterfront that the city of Branson had built a theater for the "Shepherd of the Hills" play.

Southern Illinois University students and professors there developed a play, which they did on the water-- on the lakefront down here in Branson.

Then eventually that moved to School of the Ozarks.

And then the Trimbles acquired it and then started performing it outdoors, which became probably the most active outdoor theater performance in the country.

NARRATOR: In 1985, Gary Snadon bought the property and expanded the operations and attractions.

In 1989, the current Inspiration Tower opened in honor of the 100th anniversary of Harold Bell Wright's first visit to the area.

The tower is 230 feet tall and offers beautiful views of the Ozarks.

JEFF JOHNSON: There's a-- we have a marker up there today of exactly where Harold Bell Wright's tent used to be.

But in 1989, Gary and Pat decided to go ahead and build a tower as a tribute to Mr. Wright and the spot that inspired the book itself.

And so they named it Inspiration Tower.

NARRATOR: Jeff Johnson and Steve Faria took over as the new owners dedicated to keeping the story of "The Shepherd of the Hills" outdoor play alive at the Old Mill theater.

After Gary Snadon had passed away in 2013, they let the park run again for a few more years and then ultimately sold the property.

We bought it in June of '17.

I think it was June 26.

We wanted to continue the play.

And it's truly one of the longest running plays in America.

The play is mostly unchanged except for it's not quite as long.

In the interest of short attention spans today, we've kept that play to about two hours, and it used to be a fair amount longer than that.

But we've tried to stay true in every way to the original intent of what the book is.

NARRATOR: The waters of Lake Taneycomo near Rockaway Beach and Branson continued to attract tourists during the 1920s.

But in 1935, Jim Owen, a former newspaper advertising director, took fishing to the next level when he started the Jim Owen Fishing Service.

JIM BABCOCK: He caught on to the idea that fishing is a very important thing and could be a great way to develop a community and the economy here.

So he didn't invent float tripping, but he embellished on it considerably.

A fisherperson had to bring only the fishing gear, the clothes, and the booze.

[laughs] And Jim provided everything else.

He also had a sporting goods store, which then they could buy additional equipment.

And that's a very thriving business he had.

NARRATOR: Owen's connections helped him market Branson as The Float Capital of the World in national print media such as "Field & Stream," "LIFE," and "The Saturday Evening Post."

In 1936, he expanded and built the Owen Hillbilly Theater.

JEAN BABCOCK: He brought movies to the county.

First, he showed the silent movies in the building directly across the corner.

And then he gained the property and built the theater.

He also had that stage for live entertainment.

And he began to know people in New Orleans, in Nashville, around the country.

And they would come in the summertime and perform in the theater.

NARRATOR: While waterfront tourism and folks coming to see "Shepherd of the Hills" country was happening in the early 20th century, small groups of tourists had been visiting the beauty underneath the Ozarks since the late 1800s in Marvel Cave.

1895, William Henry Lynch bought a hole in the ground.

He was out in the state of Washington, and he read about it.

And they were supposed to have this hole in the ground called-- it was called Marble Cave then.

This hole in the ground was supposed to have prehistoric bones in it.

Well, somebody wrote the copy pretty graciously because, as we understand it, he found a few possum, but no prehistoric bones.

William Henry Lynch had the imagination to say, well, this is a marvelous cave-- marvelous cave.

And that cathedral room is something that people ought to see.

And I will open it as an attraction.

NARRATOR: Lynch decided to open what is now known as Marvel Cave up to tourists.

PETE HERSCHEND: People would take the train to Springfield, get on a wagon that he provided, come down here, a one-day wagon ride.

They'd stay here in cabins that he had.

And they would tour, with pine pitch torches, Marvel Cave.

If he had five people in a week, he would have had a lot.

NARRATOR: Mr. Lynch passed away in 1927, and his two daughters would run tours of Marvel Cave all the way to 1950 when Hugo and Mary Herschend moved with their two sons, Pete and Jack.

PETE HERSCHEND: In the '50s, things began to change.

Dad retired from the work he was doing in northern Illinois, came down here.

He leased Marvel Cave from the daughters of William Henry Lynch, Miriam and Gen-- Miss Miriam and Miss Genevieve Lynch.

Miss Genevieve would take two, sometimes three tours through the cave a day.

That was ladders 505 feet down, 505 feet back up in her mid 70s.

She said, it's probably time that I quit.

NARRATOR: In 1950, the Herschends' first year, they charged $1 a visitor and had 5,000 visitors go through the cave.

PETE HERSCHEND: We just started developing the cave.

And Dad was sharp.

He died in 1955, but until then, he was a big, big help in getting more visitors coming in.

Oh, by 1959, we were up to 80,000 visitors going through the cave.

NARRATOR: Before Hugo's passing, he had an idea that his wife, Mary, sons, Jack and Pete, would help turn into a reality.

PETE HERSCHEND: But he said to me, I think that visitors, our tourists, would really enjoy seeing these men and women of the hills doing what they had to do to survive.

That means making lye soap.

It means making candles.

It means making things out of wood.

NARRATOR: This was the beginning of what we now know today as Silver Dollar City, built right on top of Marvel Cave.

PETE HERSCHEND: Dad captured the essence of what was to become Silver Dollar City.

He didn't see it as a set of buildings.

But my goodness, it changed things.

We built Silver Dollar City thinking that people would come see this kind of little town, and we would get more visitors going through the cave.

Right on.

That's exactly what happened.

NARRATOR: In 1960, the first year of Silver Dollar City, attendance grew to 120,000 visitors.

But how did this unique attraction get its name?

PETE HERSCHEND: The publicist, who constituted 100% of our marketing department, one guy named Don Richardson, he said, I'll tell you what-- let's name it Silver Dollar City, and we'll use silver dollars in change.

And when they go into the gas station, and they're going to buy gas-- it was $0.35 a gallon then-- the guy would-- the attendant would say, where'd you get that?

And you, the customer, would say, out there at that place called Silver Dollar City or the reverse.

He'd say, oh, I see you've been to Silver Dollar City.

NARRATOR: The theme park was now growing, and the first ride they had was the stagecoach.

Silver Dollar City's huge breakthrough came in 1969 when the CBS sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies" came to the park and recorded several episodes for national broadcast.

PETE HERSCHEND: The impact-- we went from a nice regional attraction into a national because of one show.

Five times on the top show in the nation five sequential days-- that was a marketing boost like you won't see again in your lifetime.

NARRATOR: Silver Dollar City has become a premier family destination with festivals, crafts, thrill rides, and other attractions, bringing more than 2 million visitors each year since the mid 2010s.

Throughout their 60-plus years in business, Pete and Jack Herschend would expand their footprint in the Branson area by acquiring nearby Talking Rocks Cavern in 1969 and opening an outdoor water park called Whitewater in 1980.

They also partnered with country music legend Dolly Parton in 1995 to open what would become known as Dolly Parton's Stampede Dinner Attraction on the 76 strip.

Also in 1995, the showboat "Branson Belle" launched on Table Rock Lake.

Despite all the growth, they always kept to their core philosophy.

PETE HERSCHEND: As long as we keep first and foremost the business of creating memories worth repeating, we keep the needs of the customer and the needs of our staff first.

NARRATOR: Flooding along Lake Taneycomo's waters and the rest of the White River was an ongoing problem in the Branson area in the early 20th century.

The earliest flood that we pay much attention to is 1916, which is after some settlement.

In 1927 was a very devastating flood, which then got the depot and many other businesses, also damaged the Main Street Bridge across the river.

But then 1943, there was a very devastating flood that really hurt that bridge, and it then became unusable.

In 1945, another devastating flood took the steel bridge right down the river to the dam.

NARRATOR: Since the turn of the 20th century, there had been talk about building another dam upstream from Lake Taneycomo for flood control.

This project was started in the fall of 1954 and completed in 1958 by the Army Corps of Engineers.

It created Table Rock Lake.

BROOKS BLEVINS: Yeah, Table Rock certainly had a tremendous impact on White River.

It's built on White River.

It has a tremendous impact on ecology and even the tourism that was already on White River because it's built not very far upstream from Powersite Dam.

So what it does, it basically ruins Taneycomo as a tourist attraction.

These hydroelectricity dams-- the water that comes out of them that powers the generators comes from the bottom of the lake, and it's significantly cooler than the water at the top of the lake or significantly cooler than what White River's waters would normally be.

And so it's kicking out cold water down there, and people don't want to swim and boat and stuff in cold water.

NARRATOR: The cold waters now in Lake Taneycomo brought in a whole new type of tourism.

JEAN BABCOCK: Trout fishing.

State began stocking lake and river with trout.

BROOKS BLEVINS: But it does bring an end to several decades of what had been a very important part of Branson's tourism in those guided float fishing trips and stuff like that.

NARRATOR: In 1959, four brothers, Bill, Bob, Jim, and Lyle Mabe, started using the name The Baldknobbers to perform their unique style of country music and highlight the hillbilly image through their comedy.

They grew up on a farm in Highlandville, Missouri.

My grandfather was a Southern Baptist minister.

And he also drove a school bus.

So there was, you know-- there was not a lot of money.

And so the instruments that they had, they had to improvise.

And they came up with their own instruments.

My grandma and grandpa Mabe had 13 kids.

Two of them died fairly young.

So there's still 11 that are there.

And one of the great things that when my grandfather would go to preach a revival or a service, he had a built-in choir.

NARRATOR: As the Mabes grew up in the 1950s, Springfield, Missouri had become a hotbed of country music with the powerhouse radio station KWTO and later with the Ozark Jubilee.

BRENT MABE: They were singing on KWTO radio, my Uncle Bob, my dad, and my Aunt Margie.

Margie's husband was Wilbur Blansit, who had Blansit Auction Company.

They had a radio show on KWTO, the auction company did.

That was their first foray actually into public performing was on KWTO radio.

NARRATOR: The Mabe brothers were also gaining a reputation as fun local entertainers.

BRENT MABE: So somebody would say, well, those Mabe boys, they can sing.

Why don't we get them over here before we have a pie supper and have them come over and sing some songs for us before we have the pie supper?

NARRATOR: The group decided to come down to Branson to play for the fishermen and other tourists in the evenings.

The brothers eventually brought on Chick Allan and decided to change their name.

BRENT MABE: So they said, well, the Baldknobbers is kind of a unique name.

You know?

At that time, a lot of people here knew.

And they said, well, we're going to be the good Baldknobbers.

You know, we're going to use that name, but we're going to use it in a good, positive way and bring laughter and joy to people through our music and our comedy.

NARRATOR: Their on-stage personalities have now become legendary, but back in 1959, it was just showing off the hillbilly lifestyle that tourists wanted to see.

Bob was Bob-O-Link.

Jim was Droopy Drawers.

Bill was Wee-Willy.

Lyle was George Aggernite.

And Chick Allan was Chickaboo.

The Mabe brothers even became part of the cast at the "Shepherd of the Hills" outdoor play in 1960.

BROOKS BLEVINS: But it's really-- you know, 1960 becomes their year.

They're involved in the opening of Silver Dollar City in the spring of 1960.

They play at "The Shepherd of the Hills" outdoor drama.

And they're sort of the halftime entertainment.

BRENT MABE: At intermission, then my family would provide the music for, like, the square dance and stuff.

So, you know, they would break character, and they would come down.

They would sing and play at the intermission.

Then when they would finish, they would go back, and it was time to be, you know, actors again.

BROOKS BLEVINS: They take their success from those places and decide to open their own theater.

NARRATOR: The Baldknobbers played the community center and the police station's basement until they eventually found their first home for the show in an old skating rink in downtown Branson.

BROOKS BLEVINS: They become the first permanent live music show in Branson.

BRENT MABE: And one of my earliest memories of being on Taneycomo is they finally get this old Ford Econoline van, and they had Baldknobbers painted on the side of it, and they had a loudspeaker.

And they would just use the loudspeaker to pitch to people that were out walking around, hey, come see the Baldknobbers.

And then my mom and aunts were standing on the street, you know, with these signs.

And then at the end of the 1960s, they build their theater on the highway 76 strip by which time the Presleys are already there having established their theater, their Mountain Music Theatre in 1967.

And so the Mabes really are the-- they're the foundation for what we know as modern Branson and the whole music scene.

BRENT MABE: The first building they built was just a metal building and a little old sign with a Bald Knobber or a hillbilly face on the front of it.

And it was-- it was pretty rustic.

NARRATOR: The Baldknobbers show during the 1970s and early 1980s would continue to expand.

They played to Branson visitors during the summers and hit the road the rest of the year promoting Branson and the show.

BRENT MABE: Then everybody was so excited about them coming there to play.

So that's how their road season, you know, started was just actually, you know, telling people, hey, if you want us to come play for you, we will.

And that progressed, you know, into later on us having two buses and going all over the country.

NARRATOR: In 1984, there was an adjustment to the show when they brought in the second generation of Mabes who had been performing in the area as a band called Southern Exit.

BRENT MABE: They were on the lakefront.

They were doing bluegrass and folk type stuff with basically acoustic instruments and their homemade instruments.

And then, you know, some years later, then they bring in drums and a steel guitar and an electric bass.

So when we came on, then we infused, like, another element, you know, another change to the atmosphere.

So we came on.

We were a little bit louder.

We were a little bit rowdier, you know?

They allowed us to be able to do that and incorporate it into the show.

And so once again, there was sort of another change, you know?

It's always changing.

NARRATOR: The Baldknobbers show continued to sell out crowds throughout the '90s boom and into the early 2000s.

In 2006, the third generation of the Mabe family joined the show.

In 2011, the Baldknobbers were asked to donate original costumes and artifacts to the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian.

The Baldknobbers have performed in Branson for over 60 years, and throughout that time, the show has followed a basic formula.

BRENT MABE: Oh, it's very, very family-oriented.

We are a family performing for families, you know?

And we truly-- we get our blessing out of seeing people smile and laugh and clap and sing along.

NARRATOR: In 1967, Lloyd Presley and his family had the honor of being the first show to have a theater on the now famous 76 strip.

But Lloyd started playing music with his brother Elwin when they were teens.

GARY PRESLEY: My grandpa was Orville Presley, and he was a Pentecostal minister and had one of the first Pentecostal churches here in the Ozarks.

But my grandmother, Mamie, she played harmonica.

And so she was a harmonica player at the church.

She was part of the music there.

And then my dad was Lloyd Presley, who, he and his brother Elwin when they were kids, like 10, 12, 15 years old, they used to play pie suppers around here in the Ozarks and sing and play and things like that.

So that's how Dad got started.

NARRATOR: Lloyd's day job was driving a truck, but he never gave up music.

He ended up joining the three Luttrell brothers, and their band became the Ozark Playboys.

GARY PRESLEY: Anyway, then in the early '50s, they had a radio show on KGBX radio.

And on Saturday night, it was local, but it was right before the Grand Ole Opry aired.

NARRATOR: Then, while playing at the KWTO, they met a local DJ and promoter named Lloyd Evans.

GARY PRESLEY: KWTO had a farm director named Lloyd Evans, and he had a show called "The Country Caravan" from probably the mid '50s up to 1960 or so.

And he needed band members, so he used dad and the Ozark Playboys, the other guys.

NARRATOR: In 1962, Lloyd Evans arranged for Lloyd Presley and his children to play Saturday nights at Fantastic Caverns just north of Springfield.

These shows were called Farmarama and recorded for later broadcast on KGBX.

GARY PRESLEY: That was exciting.

We were underground.

And the reason-- people ask why we had a show in a cave.

There was not a lot of air-conditioning in the Ozarks back then.

People could come out in the summertime when it's hot, watch good country music, comedy, gospel, and cool off at the same time.

NARRATOR: Gary Presley's now iconic character was developed while doing the shows at Fantastic Caverns.

GARY PRESLEY: Lloyd Evans was over at our house talking to us.

He said, we need somebody just to maybe dress up a little bit and walk out on stage and just kind of look funny.

Well, I'm 15, and I'll try anything.

And I said, I'll give it a try.

So I got a pair of overalls from one of my grandpas, got a pair of glasses from the other one.

I found me an old hat and created my Herkimer.

Also the name Herkimer, Lloyd Evans gave me that name.

Came from a song that June Carter, Johnny Cash's wife-- was a song she had back years ago called "Herkimer the Bull."

And Lloyd picked that name up from his days when he worked with the Carter family.

And he said, why don't we just call you Herkimer?

NARRATOR: Gary would take his comedic talents on the road to an area west of Branson.

GARY PRESLEY: There was a cave down here over by Dd highway between here and Kimberling City.

And they ended up naming it, calling it the underground theater.

Slim Wilson, Bob White, Speedy Haworth-- and they were the ones that kind of started it over there.

Well, they needed a comedian.

So they knew about me, and they asked me to be their comedian, which I was.

That's before-- Dad and my sisters were not down here playing at that time.

But I'd come down.

I'd be their comedian six nights a week down here.

And then some of the help started leaving if I remember right.

So then Dad and my sisters came down, and they became part of the show too.

Crowds were not big.

There might be nights we might have 100 people, but it's way off the beaten path over there.

So I got to looking at traffic patterns.

Anybody going to Silver Dollar City or most people came through Branson, out Highway 76, to get to Silver Dollar City or Shepherd of the Hills.

We had watched Lee Mace's show, Ozark Opry, in Lake of the Ozarks for years.

Been very, very successful up there.

So we thought, if we put a theater right here on 76 between Silver Dollar City and "Shepherd of the Hills" and Branson, we might draw a few people in.

NARRATOR: The Presley's bought 10 and 1/2 acres and opened their theater on Highway 76 in 1967.

It truly was a family business decision.

GARY PRESLEY: There were four couples of us that built it-- my wife and I-- we were married-- Mom and Dad, my sister and her husband, and his dad and mom.

So there were four equal couples.

NARRATOR: The four couples had a backup plan if the theater did not work out.

GARY PRESLEY: So we put a big sliding door on the back-- and the rails are still hanging back here-- just in case the music business didn't work, we were going to store boats in here because we're close to the lake.

NARRATOR: On June 30, 1967, the Mountain Music Theater opened.

GARY PRESLEY: The original band was-- of course Dad was on the show, my brother-in-law Dave Drennon, my sister Deanna, my sister Janice, Howard Farmer out of northern Arkansas, a great guitar player, and Jim Luttrell was our emcee and myself.

I was the comedian.

That was it.

NARRATOR: The Presleys' family worked together on stage and behind the scenes to make sure their show was successful.

The family would quickly develop their iconic red and yellow color scheme for all their marketing materials, including pamphlets, posters, and billboards.

During the off-season in the '70s and '80s, they would hit the road to promote the show and Branson as a whole.

GARY PRESLEY: And we would go on the road in the winter time.

And that was the whole idea was to promote our show down here.

We would be booked into a lot of little towns and bigger towns-- Des Moines, Norwalk, Iowa, hoping when people come to Branson on vacation, they would come and see us here.

NARRATOR: This worked wonders, and people would keep coming back year after year to Branson.

But the family was always marketing, making sure to get the Presley family's name out.

ERIC PRESLEY: When I was a kid in the '80s-- and I think they started this before that.

But during the show, you would put bumper stickers on the cars.

There's no way you can get away with that now.

You would put bumper stickers on the cars out in the parking lot.

And as a 10, 12-year-old boy, that was so much fun to do.

And I knew what time of night the guys were going to be out there putting bumper stickers.

And they'd give me a coffee can of bumper stickers, and I had to go do it.

And the funny thing is is, like I said, you couldn't do that now.

But I think there was a disclaimer on the back of the ticket that said if you don't want a bumper sticker, leave your visor down.

And that tells us you don't want a bumper sticker.

And that got us out of everything.

[laughs] NARRATOR: As time passed on, the younger family members would get involved with the show.

ERIC PRESLEY: I have two brothers, Scott and Greg that are both older.

And we all started out as little Herkimers.

And we would come out stairstep dressed just like Dad, overalls and all.

And so we were the little Herkimers.

My older brothers are very talented musically.

They can play about anything, and they're good at it.

They kind of evolved into that part of the show.

And so I stayed a little Herkimer.

I got the name Cecil.

I don't know where.

And we can't find anybody who knows where that came from.

That's just what Dad started calling me.

And then when I turned about 17-ish is when I started morphing into this character that you see now.

I went from the overalls to the little more sophisticated hillbilly, which is not even close to the right-- (LAUGHING) you know, I think I am.

I'm not.

NARRATOR: The characters of Herkimer and Cecil are icons of the famed hillbilly image.

ERIC PRESLEY: When people come from New York or wherever-- and we get them from all over the place-- and they come to the Ozarks, it's true.

They want to see Ozark Hills.

They want to see a hillbilly.

They want to see those things.

And that's what my family has done.

Now, my dad and I, yeah, we portray hillbillies.

The rest of the people do not.

They look very nice, and they have nice clothes and nice instruments.

But we are the hillbillies.

And I've heard my dad say this and different ones say it before, but it's this simple.

When you go to Hawaii, you want to see a hula girl.

It doesn't matter how many times you've been there or who you take.

You want to show them a-- and it's like that here.

NARRATOR: Today, the Presleys continue to perform in their theater on the 76 strip.

But the show's reach goes beyond as ambassadors for the Branson area and the Ozarks.

JONAS ARJES: You know, just most recently, they have the prime time slot on RFD-TV on Saturday night.

So just a long, long history of several generations of that family doing what they love, entertaining folks, and people coming-- bringing their generations of family to see them for decades.

NARRATOR: With key elements in place along Highway 76, the Baldknobbers, the Presleys, Shepherd of the Hills outdoor theater, and Silver Dollar City all next to the newly formed Table Rock Lake, the mixture was just right for the 76 strip to begin expanding.

BROOKS BLEVINS: The early 1970s, you have the Plummer family from the eastern Ozarks of southeast Missouri.

They move in, build their theater.

They're followed the very next year.

They come in in '73.

In '74, the Foggy River Boys.

But that becomes the Branson sound in the early days.

It's very much a fusion of country and bluegrass music with a little gospel thrown in and maybe a patriotic song or two.

NARRATOR: The 76 strip would slowly grow as more people discovered the talent hidden in the Ozark hills.

BROOKS BLEVINS: Almost all of the shows feature performers who are not nationally known.

They're mainly natives of the Ozarks, mainly Missouri folks.

In 1981, the last one of those Ozarks native theaters opens up, the Wilkinson family.

NARRATOR: Word was getting out about Branson and the 76 strip.

In the late '70s, Chisai Childs, who would become known as the Belle of Branson, had a show in Grapevine, Texas.

She relocated her show to the Starlight Theater in the 1980s.

WAYNE GLENN: Chisai Childs was a fiddler.

She was a woman fiddler and a singer and a heavy energy, strong energy performer who got out on stage and really got into what she was doing.

And people loved her.

She had no hit records.

She was not a major international success by any means.

But when people came to her show in Branson, she entertained them.

It was she more than anyone else that brought Shoji Tabuchi to Branson.

He was a fiddler.

She was a fiddler.

And she promoted him in Branson.

I had a telephone call from one of the theaters here in Branson to do the headliner.

So I came to Branson.

I just immediately-- I fell in love with the place and then the people who come here.

NARRATOR: Shoji Tabuchi would perform for two different shows in Branson for seven years before going on his own in 1989 and building his own theater in 1990.

ERIC PRESLEY: So that was a neat era, that '80s Branson.

It was just per-- you know, it was still kind of small.

The secret had not quite been let out of the bag yet, but it was neat.

NARRATOR: In the 1980s, entertainers from outside the Ozarks start coming to the 76 strip.

BROOKS BLEVINS: It's also in 1981 that the Hee Haw Theater opens up.

And that's an important point because it's the first sort of national brand that comes to the strip.

But what the Hee Haw Theater does is it introduces one Roy Clark to the Ozarks and to Branson.

WAYNE GLENN: Probably 40 or 50 hits for Roy Clark between, say, 1963 and the 1980s.

And he came to Branson in 1983 as a major star.

Once Roy Clark is there, an established, nationally known name in the country music world, then that kind of rolls out the red carpet for other country music celebrities to come into town.

[vocalizing] NARRATOR: In 1988, "An Ozarks Mountain Christmas" is the beginning of a successful effort by the entire Branson area to expand the tourist season into November and December.

This is adding a season-- adding a full season to the year.

The Christmas season, November through the end of December-- actually, the first Saturday in January-- is now the largest visitor count we have of any single season.

NARRATOR: The entertainment scene in Branson explodes in the 1990s as nationally known entertainers decide to come off the road and set up shop in this new entertainment capital.

And then it hits hyperdrive really in the early 1990s.

You got Mel Tillis opens up his theater in 1990.

Tillis had been playing in Branson, you know, off and on for a little bit before that.

But he sure enough opens his theater in 1990.

There's attention on Branson, which was already a huge tourist town.

You know, Branson was doing great.

But the added attention of having a Mickey Gilley in town or having a Mel Tillis, an Andy Williams-- my lands, you know?

It brought more national media attention to the town.

And I think that was very beneficial.

BROOKS BLEVINS: Jim Stafford comes in, Buck Trent, you know, just-- Ray Stevens, people that folks around the nation have heard of.

And so it's taking off rapidly in the early '90s.

Andy Williams and Ray Stevens both established theaters in Branson within about a year of each other.

Ray Stevens was first.

His manager was Andy Williams's brother Don Williams.

ANDY WILLIAMS: It was about 1991, and-- well, it was 1991.

And Ray Stevens was opening a theater here in Branson.

It was, I think, the 20th theater that was in Branson at the time.

And everybody that was here was country.

Everything was country, the whole thing.

And my brother Don said, I think you ought to come down and see what's going on here because it's an unusual place.

So anyway, my brother Don convinced me that they would come and see me.

WAYNE GLENN: Andy Williams was successful with the Moon River Theater, initially extremely successful.

And not only was he making money, and not only was he drawing tremendous crowds, and not only was it appealing as a middle America type thing, him being from Iowa.

His roots were in Iowa.

But also, he loved it so much, he built him a big home and lived in the Branson area.

When Andy Williams comes in, it attracts other non-country acts.

You have Wayne Newton who comes to town.

You've got Tony Orlando.

You've got Bobby Vinton.

You've got these different acts that are-- you eventually have The Platters and the Lennon sisters and all these groups appealing to a pretty diverse demographic and not just a country demographic.

NARRATOR: With the nation's eyes on Branson, the news magazine show "60 Minutes" decided in 1991 to take a look at what was happening in this little Ozarks town.

To me, the fire was pretty hot, you know, from what I remember and from history.

"60 Minutes" was the gas on the flame, so to speak, you know, when you had Mel Tillis, you know, telling people that he's making millions of dollars a year and sleeping in his own bed at night and playing golf every day.

ERIC PRESLEY: What it did for Branson, not only the number of people that came to Branson, but ticket prices went up, quality of shows went up, quality of theaters went up, quality of everything went up when that happened.

NARRATOR: In 1992, the Grand Palace opened in Branson offering a 4,000-seat theater for national touring acts.

And we saw the opportunity to build the Grand Palace to make it a focal point, entertainment focal point, for these entertainers to come in.

NARRATOR: Besides hosting top touring acts from around the country, the Grand Palace would also play host to the nationally syndicated show "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee."

MARY KELLOGG-JOSLYN: There were so many stars that we could bring in, but they were all here in Branson, Missouri.

So we brought a production team of about 80 to 90 people in to help facilitate the whole entire production.

And it will surprise people that you have a whole team that does nothing but handle all the audience control.

We weren't prepared for 25,000 people.

NARRATOR: "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" recorded four episodes during two days highlighting many of Branson's stars.

All the media attention helped the Branson area become part of mainstream America in the 1990s.

At that point, you know Branson sort of made it in pop culture.

If "The Simpsons" is making fun of you, that's a pretty clear sign you've become more than just a regional phenomenon.

You're a national phenomenon.

NARRATOR: In the 2000s, Branson would continue to grow and expand its entertainment offerings.

In 2006, the Titanic Museum attraction opened its doors.

The building design is a half scale of the actual RMS Titanic.

This interactive museum experience has more than 400 objects on display with connections to the Titanic.

MARY KELLOGG-JOSLYN: When the ship opened, knock on wood, it was a success from day one, and it has continued that way.

Did it fit the model of Branson?

Branson was at a time when it was probably beginning to expand to other areas.

The shows will always be the backbone of Branson, and it's a misconception that there's only country shows.

There's a lot more variety of shows in Branson.

And I think the tide was beginning to turn that there should be some other attractions to complement the shows that perform here.

NARRATOR: The Titanic Museum attraction is an immersive educational experience, as the journey takes guests back in time to the ship's voyage in 1912.

MARY KELLOGG-JOSLYN: You know, when I talk about the museum, people often say, well, what is it?

And I always say, there were 2,208 aboard the Titanic, and each one of them have a story.

And our job is to share that story.

We've had over 300 descendents come and visit us, and they all say the same thing.

"Thank you for sharing our story."

Shopping-- on vacation, everybody goes shopping.

They will always tell you that in every survey you ever took.

They'll say, oh, what'd you do?

I went shopping.

NARRATOR: Shopping is always a key part of any tourist destination, and the Branson area is no different.

From Dick's 5 & 10 in historic downtown Branson to souvenir shops and the outlet malls, a major addition occurred in 2006 when the Branson Landing opened and brought a new look and feel to shopping, restaurants, hotels, and modernizes the Lake Taneycomo waterfront.

BROOKS BLEVINS: Branson Landing is-- it's all about shopping.

And, you know, it's really more of kind of a modern sort of thing that would even fit at, like, the Lake of the Ozarks and a lot of other places.

And I think that kind of helps nudge the town in a slightly different direction.

NARRATOR: The Branson area, located in the heart of America, allows for travelers to come from all around the country.

For years, travel by car or tour bus has been the main form of travel.

But community leaders in the region wanted to add other options.

Bringing a new level of air transportation into the Branson area in 2009, the Branson airport started providing commercial air services to the Ozarks.

The terminal at the airport has a unique rustic Ozarks feel to welcome all its guests.

The skyline of Branson 76 strip changed when an icon from Chicago was moved to the Track family's fun parks in 2016.

I get an email that October a few months after I met this gentleman.

And he said, hey, I think I have something for you.

Navy Pier is selling their iconic Ferris wheel.

It sat on the Navy Pier for 20 years, ridden by 17 million people.

It's in every picture of Chicago of the downtown, and they're selling it.

NARRATOR: The Track Family Fun Parks have been a part of Branson since 1981 when Craig Wescott's father, Lee, wanted to build a top-of-the-line family entertainment center in Branson.

The track started off with go-karts and has expanded from there.

CRAIG WESCOTT: Yeah, so go-karts have always been the bread and butter, but, you know, through the years, adding bumper boat rides and mini golf and laser tag and kind of beefing up our arcade operations and all different things, the goal has always been create unforgettable moments.

We're here to make people smile and have a good time.

NARRATOR: Now the Branson Ferris wheel has become an icon of family fun for the Branson area.

CRAIG WESCOTT: It was a part of Chicago's skyline, changed the Branson skyline in a very different way, which has been exciting.

And we honor that history, and we tell that story.

And we get lots of people from Chicago that rode it or drove by it and never rode it and that sort of thing.

But now it's Branson's, and it's creating new stories here.

NARRATOR: Outdoor recreation has always been a key element to the Branson area's success.

But in the mid 2000 teens, golf started to really step up its game.

Look at the impact that Johnny Morris is having on greater Branson.

That's a whole other story.

But everything that organization does fits like a glove.

NARRATOR: Johnny Morris, the founder of Bass Pro Shops, has had a long affinity for the Ozarks dating back to his childhood of fishing on the White River and Table Rock lake with his family.

In 1987, he acquired the property that would become the award-winning resort Big Cedar Lodge.

In 1990, the purchase of land south of Branson would grow into the pristine nature area Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, now a 10,000-acre outdoor recreation destination that encourages guests to experience the efforts and appreciation for conservation of the outdoors.

2014 brought about the reopening of the redesigned Top of the Rock Ozarks Heritage Preserve.

This unique area has quality restaurants, the Ancient Ozark Natural History Museum, and is home to the beginning of a growing series of golf attractions with the par 3 course designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus that has gone on to host several PGA events.

And we were introduced to Johnny Morris and Big Cedar Lodge and Bass Pro Shops, and it quickly became a good fit for both us and for Johnny to help promote the golf that he was building here in the Ozarks and specifically at the time was the par 3 Top of the Rock.

NARRATOR: Also, Buffalo Ridge, an 18-hole golf course reopened in 2014 after being redesigned by golf architect Tom Fazio.

MILLER BRADY: Look, Johnny is all about conservation.

You can see that in everything that he does from the buffalo to the left of number 1 on Buffalo Ridge golf course to, you know, the fish, the wildlife.

Everything that Johnny does has a conservation theme behind it.

NARRATOR: This allowed for the PGA to bring the Legends of Golf tournament in 2014 to the Branson area, showcasing legendary names in the world of golf.

BROOKS BLEVINS: The Legends of Golf down there for a few years and bringing in, you know, the biggest names in golf in the world and a lot of really big name celebrities in general even outside of golf.

NARRATOR: Big Cedar Lodge has become quite the golf destination with adding the Gary Player designed mountaintop course in 2017, Ozark National designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, which was named the best new public course in 2019 by reviewers in "Golf Digest."

The latest offering is Payne's Valley, a tribute to the late golfing great Payne Stewart designed by Tiger Woods.

In August of 2020, the PGA returned with two tournaments held at the Big Cedar golf courses.

MILLER BRADY: We knew that there were multiple golf courses that we could play in a short time frame.

And both golf courses provide a different experience for our players.

Johnny Morris and his golf development down on the lake and in the Branson area in general has been a major thing that I think promises to if not take Branson tourism in a different direction, certainly it adds a major component to Branson tourism that it didn't have before.

NARRATOR: As you can see, the Branson area is always evolving and changing with the times, but it will forever have the core elements that have attracted visitors to this region for over a century.

JIM BABCOCK: Now you can go fishing.

You can go boating.

You can go swimming.

You can go to theaters.

You can go to attractions.

You can go shopping.

You can just drive around and see the countryside.

JONAS ARJES: From the smallest of the smallest to the oldest of the oldest, we've got something for everybody to enjoy.

BROOKS BLEVINS: You know, some of those original things that attracted people to Branson, whether it was fishing or hiking or just driving around and admiring the beauty of the countryside, those still work today in the 21st century.

[bluegrass music playing]