Roy Rogers Dale Evans Museum in Branson, Missouri
Shows and attractions coming and going is just a part of life in Branson, but for a lot of people, the closing of the “Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum,” located inside the “Happy Trails Theatre and Attraction,” has a special significance. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were a part of their youth and a constant public illustration of a value system involving, honor, trust, goodness, faithfulness and integrity.
According to a recent news release the museum, which moved to Branson from Victorville, CA in June of 2003, will be closing at the close of business on December 12. The museum contained an extensive collection of memorabilia that included “Nellybelle” the Jeep, Roy Rogers’ first guitar, the mounted figure of his iconic horse, “Trigger,” and much more. The complex also contained a theatre in which Roy’s son, Roy “Dusty” Rogers Jr., his grandson Dustin Roy Rogers, and The High Riders performed a western music show. During an interview on December 10, Dustin Rogers said the show will be performing at the Mickey Gilley Theatre in Branson, doing morning shows, starting March 4, 2010.
Rogers said that closing of the museum was one of the hardest things the family has ever had to do. In terms of the physical contents of the museum Dustin indicated that under the best scenario one buyer would buy everything and move it to a new facility and under the worst case scenario everything would go to auction. He pointed out that the contents of the museum are just things that can be taken away, but the legacy and memories that Roy and Dale left behind can never be taken away.
In reflecting on the Roy Rogers Dale Evans Museum closing, Paul Miller, General Manager of the Branson Tourism Center said, “The museum honored Roy Rogers and Dale Evans who were legendary for the qualities they represented; the very qualities upon which Branson was founded and has flourished. Those qualities and their association with Roy and Dale in the hearts of those whose lives they influenced is not going to change.”
From a Branson historical perspective the museum was located at 3950 Green Mountain Drive in Branson on the south side of the road just east of the intersection of Green Mountain Drive and State Highway 376. It was located at that location since coming to Branson in 2003 in a building owned by HCW LLC., the development company that developed and built Branson Landing.
Although the physical aspects of the museum will be gone, the memory of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and what they represent have been forever woven into the fabric of Branson’s history. A song Roy Rogers sang, “Don’t Fence Me In,” and its lyrics, “Let me ride thorough the wide open spaces that I love,” come to mind and remind all of us “buckaroos” that the legend, memories and the characteristics associated with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans are not dependent on the four walls of a museum because they are part of “the wide open spaces” of our minds and hearts.
