San Bernardino County Sun features editor John Weeks reports that the Roy Rogers Museum, less than six years after it picked up and moved from its longtime Route 66 home in Victorville, Calif., has shut down in Branson, Mo., and all of its memorabilia will be auctioned in the coming weeks.
Weeks writes:
What a shame. Victorville, in San Bernardino County’s High Desert, was the right home for it. It was an authentic Western setting for a Western-themed museum. It was right on old Route 66, an appropriately nostalgic location for an exhibit hall devoted to nostalgia.
Most importantly, it’s where Rogers and Evans built it, near their own home in Apple Valley. That’s the community they chose for their retirement, after their long careers as stars of hundreds of TV and movie Westerns during the ’40s and ’50s. That’s the community where they lived, where they died, and where they are buried.
If you’re a tad too young to know, Roy Rogers was known as the “King of the Cowboys,” and his wife, Dale Evans, was called “Queen of the West.” More about them can be read here.
Weeks is advocating that Southern California residents buy up as much Roy Rogers artifacts as possible and move them to one of the area museums, including the Route 66 museum in Victorville. “Sadly, we can’t get the whole museum back. But a few choice pieces of it might be nice,” Weeks writes.
The first auction Roy Rogers items will be conducted by High Noon Western Americana. More about the first auction can be found here. More auction dates can be found halfway down the page at the main Roy Rogers site.
It’s very sad. In Branson, the museum was just one more attraction you didn’t have time to see; the High Desert was where it belonged.
You are right…it should never have been moved. I can only
assume the owners/managers of it saw an opertunity to make
bigger bucks in Branston……..Wrong ! Back in the ’60s I was
assigned to NASA’s Goldstone Tracking Station and lived in
Barstow. We went to Apple Valley quite often as our pedia-
trision was from there. Quite often we would stop at the museum
to grab lunch or at least a coke or cup of coffee. More often
than not, Roy would be in the resturant just talking to the customers. He was a religious person and for quite a spell,
he and Dale had over 10 foster kids out at the ranch. One day
he had them on some church bus going some place…….and
the bus ran off a cliff…..killing all his kids. Roy was never the
same after that. The museum moved to Branson….without Roy.
I always had respect for that man…….not only as “movie
cowboy”…..but as a person.
Roy Rogers JUNIOR had a run-in with the city of Victorville, so he moved to Branson.
The original museum was in a former bowling alley across the street from the Apple Valley Inn.
Roy spent many an hour at the barber shop (at the inn) shooting the breeze about hunting as the owner and most patrons were gun nuts. Roy spent some time at the Kalin Ranch( now Spring Valley Lake hunting coyotes and birds.
I just found out about that the museum had moved to Branson MO. So so sad. I had the privilege of actually meeting Roy at his museum in Cali. My family and I had vacationed to Cali from Tex back around 1985. He had come up to us like we had know eachother for years. Such a great man.
Branson has nothing to do with the old cowboy era, it more catered to the glitzy rhinestone and Donny and Marie crowd. This is the crowd that thinks Nashville and Missouri are part of the wild west. Sad but true the museum never had a chance in Branson. Our hearts all sank when they took the museum away from Roy’s fans and sold it to the highest bidder.
Weeks needs to do a bit more research. The move to Branson was the brainchild of Dale and Roy. They’d seen nothing but dwindling numbers in Victorville for years and felt the family environment of Branson was a better place to be. From what I understand from Dusty Rogers, Dale was involved in picking the place in Branson but unfortunately, did not live long enough to see it built.
What killed the museum was the rent. The Rogers Family Trust made the decision to let a third party build their theater and they paid an astronomical rent every month. The Rogers family has openly told everyone that they plan to stay in Branson and I believe Dusty has already found a new home for his show. But the Museum and Roy Rogers Collection as we know it will be no more. It’s sad not only for the Rogers family and the legacy of Roy and Dale, but it leaves one more blighted building in a place where they have literally “paved over paradise.” Very sad and tragic indeed.
I CANNOTY BELIEVE DUSTY; YOU ARE LETTING THIS HAPPEN! I GREW UP WATCHING YOUR DAD EVERY SATURDAY, YOU ART TO BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF FOR LETTING THIS HAPPEN. YOUR DADA IS WATCHING EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE D. ROGERS FAMILY SHOULD BE ASHAMED !!!!!! I TOO GREW UP WATCHING MR & MRS ROY ROGERS,
To Anonymous:
It was not Dusty alone that let this happen. He was the headliner of the program that played in the theater’s auditorium. The Rogers Family Trust, which is a organization comprised of all the surviving Rogers children and their families was who was in control of the entire place. You cannot blame one person alone for what happened. It was bad decisions by a large group of family descendents, and they are as much a victim of this unstable economic time we live in as anything else. And yes, I’m sure Roy and Dale would be quite disappointed. My question would be, if you watched the program every Saturday, did you continue to be a member of the Roy Rogers Riders Club into adulthood? They did their best to prevent this but it just couldn’t be stopped.
I’m shocked, as well as saddened and feel like I’ve lost Roy and Dale all over again. I’m so glad my husband and I got to see the museum in Branson and were able to make many pictures of the life and times of the King of the Cowboys and Queen of the West. It’s so sad, but this is a sign of the times where people want all this electronic junk to entertain them. So glad I grew up in a time where we still played cowboys and indians and our imaginations were the big thing and not how fast we could push buttons on some piece of plastic for entertainment. Unfortunately, without the interest being kept alive for Route 66 by all the roadies out there, it too could go the way of the Roy and Dale museum. It’s unbelieveable that kids of today won’t ever know about Roy and Dale and all the goods times on Saturday mornings at the movies, the good guys beating the bad ones and oh the music. The singing cowboys were grand! I still can’t believe this extensive museum depicting the lives of two of the greatest western heros Roy and Dale(not to mention Pat Brady, Gabby Hays, Nelly Bell, Bullet, Buttermilk and let’s not forget Trigger, is going by the wayside. It’s as though they will be no more, only in our memories.
Own a piece of History
An original Trigger Horse Coin Operated Ride
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250575818867&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123
Saw the museum while on temporary duty at George Air Force Base in Victorville CA. I am glad I got to enjoy the memories while I saw it. That was about 1978 or sometime around that. It was grand seeing the things that were seen in movies.
Unfortunately, the population is aging, the fans are now senior citizens and the state of the economy makes it difficult to travel.
I am hoping that someone like Turner Classic Movie Channel will do a month long special on the stars of the west like Roy & Dale, Gene Autry, and others.
My husband and I passed through Victorville in 1990. We saw the sign for the museum but kept on going. Big mistake!! But we did get to see the museum in Branson in 2005. Worth the wait!
I was sorry to hear that the museum had closed. So much memorabilia and history. If everything is going to auctioned off, what will happen to Trigger, Buttermilk and Bullet . . .
I had the honor of being a pastor to Roy & Dale in their last years at Apple Valley. Roy was indeed my boyhood hero & I fell in love w/ Dale when we were together in Apple Valley. I visited the museum in Apple Valley a number of times & remember fondly Roy still greeting visitors and Dale shoot her TV program there as well.
Moving to Branson I thought was a good move. So many of us older folks visit Branson, but I guess it just didn’t hold up. They will never be forgotten. They made my time in Apple Valley a dream come true.
As millions of other young boys growing up in rural america in 50’s an 60’s I wanted to be just like roy rogers!! He was my HERO for years and really still is in a way since we are both brothers of a masonic lodge!!
I thought that Roy, Dale and the SOTP’s created something back in the 1950’s called ‘Pioneer Town’ near Victorville. Did that get destroyed too? Why can’t people just let good things be ? They always have to tinker with stuff till it’s ruined.
I grew up watching Roy every Saturday morning. In 1986, I met him in his museum when it was still in Victorville. Had my photo taken with him, and that photo now highlites my Roy Rogers collection in my den, among the guitar, cap pistols, bunk house and other neat things..
Talking with Roy was like talking to your next door neighbor. He was the role model that OUR kids and grandkids do not have.
This was a magical time, along with NEHI Orange, ’57 Chevys and Wolfman Jack———–it’ll never come again
I am so sad to hear about the museum. I actually did not know it had moved and was going to drive out of my way this Sept. to see it again.
Very glad I made an internet search.
In the middle 90’s or so,I was driving by and almost went by. But thank heavens I turned around. It was the best museum ever! I remember that the pictures on the wall,went by the dates,so it was like history being told on the walls. Trigger was another memory.
I remember it was closing and I stayed at a motel up the hill and came back the next morning because they told me Roy always tried to come,he was getting older now and sometimes did not make it.
Thank heavens he did that day. I did not approch him,but stood aside and watched him until he left, interact with the volunteers etc.
Oh I am so glad to have these memories and sad I can not share them this Sept.
It is a terrible to let this go i cannot believe the smithsonian did not take trigger buttermilk or bullet . Roy and Dale wereand are American icons the type we need today and do not have. Maybe some organization like Disney or Universal should set up there i mean you now have Harry Potter exhibits. To let this go is to lose part of an era that we will never see again.
I too, am deeply saddened. Roy Rogers has always been my hero. It was a mistake to move the museum in the first place. I hope someone will have what it takes to restore it to the public again.
It’s too bad there are no real “heroes” like Roy and Dale for kids today to look up to and emulate.
Sad, sad, sad, soooo sad.
Back around 1980 I was in Manhattan, in Rockefeller Center, walking down the street where the RCA (now the GE) Building is. It was around 5 p.m., and the sidewalk was getting pretty crowded. Then, all of a sudden, Roy Rogers walked out of the RCA Building, impeccably dressed in a tailored suit with a Western flavor, and with a cowboy hat. Everybody stopped. Jaws dropped. I remember one woman’s eyes going very wide. And then everybody was smiling and happy, all those jaded Baby Boomer New Yorkers. Everybody went up to Roy and tried to say something to him. Dozens of people, there on the sidewalk. Roy couldn’t have been nicer to them, and he spent a moment or two with them before he got into the car that was waiting for him. I will always remember him, and all of them, for that moment. Roy Rogers, the greatest cowboy of them all.
I too, remember watching Roy & Dale on early Saturday TV in the 1950s.. Other favorite Cowboys were Gene Autry riding Champion on Saturday evenings at 7PM sponsored by Wigley’s Doublemint Chewing gum, which I still chew today.
My real hero then was William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy. A photo of him riding Topper sent to me in 1953 sits over my head as I write this message.
We need more heros like Roy, Dale, Gene, Tex & Hoppy today & not the rock crap garbage TV & Radio Station broadcast today.
I was extremely sorry to hear Trigger & Bullet were up for sale & their museum was no more…I bet Roy & Dale have turned over a few times with tears in their eyes….this is yet another example of greedy family relatives wanting more money & leavng the western atmosphere of Victorville for a rock-music setting that totally fails.
John, if you think an old-time country town like Branson is a rock-music setting, you obviously have never been there.
Branson is NOT a traditional country music town…its primary theme was & continues to be rock, crock & crap when my wife & I visited it in 1998. After finding out the overnite prices of hotels & motels, we decided to get the H— out of that rocking town for a real country town.
I’d never go back to Branson & all its crock & crap.
Anyone who thinks that Branson is a rock’n’roll town has very bizarre notions of music and is obviously ignorant of that town’s very long history as a country music Mecca.
We also had the pleasure of a breif encounter with Roy at the victorville museum. in 1993 we stopped by and were delighted to meet the hero of my boyhood. He took a few minutes with us and we talked about our mutal love of hunting and firearms.
very sorry to think that trigger will be in some place by himself.
so sad a turn of events.
I’m going to New York tomorrow (7/14) to see the preview of the RRDE auction. I never did get to see either museum, so this may be my only chance to see Trigger, Buttermilk, etc.
The world was a far better place when Roy and Dale were here, but thank goodness we can still hear and see them if only electronically.
In 1990, my husband and I had visited my sister in Portland, Or. We were in a motor home and had planned to go on to British Columbia, but the temperature dropped into the 20s in BC and instead we headed south through CA on our way home to TX As a surprise to me, my husband had routed us through Victorville and we spent a few hours at the Roy Rogers Museum. It was dream come true for me and a nice surprise for my husband, for he got to see what a hunter/sportsman Roy was. What a thrill it was to walk close to Trigger and Nelly Belle and see all the things Roy had saved through the years to put in a museum. What a wonderful thing to do for all us fans. I know from past articles written by Dusty that the family has struggled with the taxes and high cost of running the museum, so I say “Thank you” family. We cry with you over this closing.
When I was 5 or 6 in the mid nineteen fifties I sat on Roy’s knee at the Dodge dealership across from my grandma’s house in Oroville, California. We had the photo for years but it too has disappeared in the mists. I remember it well nonetheless.
I am a veteran police officer who growing up did not have a positive role model in the home. My role models were two men who wore white cowboy hats and taught me how to do and live right; those men were Roy Rogers and the Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore). Fighting for the underdog and against “wrong doing” inspired me to enter my profession decades ago. I have their collector plates displayed in my office to remind me how times have changed, but goodness and doing that which is right does not have time limitations. I was privileged to tour the museum in Branson a few years ago and relive a special part of my childhood. It is a memory that I will always remember fondly. We were blessed to have heroes back then who stood for values that have since long been tarnished. “Thank you” Rogers’ family for sharing your parents and lives with us all.
I grew up watching Roy and Dale’s movies on early Saturday mornings as well as the TV series. Own and read Dale’s books. Feel blesses to have met them an have pictures that were taken with the two of them. They were very special people and feel that their children are as well. I was also fortunate enough to see the museum when I was in Branson, but missed being able to see Roy and Dale again, in person.
It is very sad that the young people coming up today do not have the very positive images of people to look up to any more. I may be showing my age, but values in life do not seem to be very important anymore. One of many changes that make me feel sad.
Happy Trails to their remaining family and Blessings in their lives. I know it has not been as easy decision to make.
I just read a”On the edge of common sense” by Baxter Black in the newspaper. OMG is all I can say about that… He said Dale Evan’s horse was named buttercup. Broke my heart~~~we all know,love & remember BUTTERMILK.. How could he act like he knew what he was talking about & being so wrong?? ALL BUTTERMILK’S FAN’S DESERVE HIM TO DO THE RIGHT THING ?? RECON’ HE KNOWS WHAT THAT IS ???
Looking back, I see #5 D. Cloud~~#14 Mitch~~#19 Frank remember BUTTERMILK~~~~~~~Still wonder why Baxter Black didn’t know….SAD SAD
I was very disappointed to read today sun 3 October that the Roy & Dale museum had closed.I along with my family were driving along Route 66 in CA.in 1995 when my wife pointed out Trigger outside the museum so we pulled over and toured a museum set up by my childhood hero,Roy was not there as he was not well,this was in Jan 95. The museum was well worth the stop as it brought back memories of meeting both Roy, Dale and of course Trigger on one of their tours of the UK in about 1958 in Liverpool I was 8yrs old.
We are returning to CA. in 2011 and I was hoping to take my now 16 year old daughter to the museum as she was only a baby in ’95. Sadly, this will now never happen.
I too loved Roy Rogers when I was growing up in England in the 40s and 50s. In fact, I loved everything about the USA and my dream of visiting America finally came true in 1998 when my wife and I were on a coach tour.
We were travelling from Las Vegas to LA and passed the sign for Roy’s museum in Victorville. Imagine my disappointment when we couldn’t visit as it wasn’t on the itinary!
But I finally got to see it during another tour which included Branson. It was well worth it and I only wish we could have spent longer there before having to move on.
So sad that it didn’t succeed but at least I saw it. Thank you Roy for bringing back all those boyhood memories, You will never be forgotten.
Rent the museum property, WHY? With the family wealth they should have bought property and then this probably wouldn’t have happened. Obviously someone was making a mint from the deceased. The insurance probably was part to blame as well. Shame on them all.
Roy loved killing, all right, as long as it entailed no risks. He evaded military service
in WW2, but loved killing animals. He was one
cruel jerk, no doubt.
Tony, A jerk? Absolutely not Roy Rogers was a generous, devout, charitable man of high character. Mr. Rogers was a sportsman who hunted and fished acording to the laws of our land. He partook of our renewable natural resources according to the regulations imposed by our government.
At the time of WW II Mr.Rogers was a widowed single parent, not subject to conscriiption. Married men WITH wives and children didn’t have to go either.
Inspite of your hateful comments, Roy would still say to you, “Goodby, Good luck. And may the good Lord take a likin to ya.” JIM TIGHT
I the late 1950’s while living and working in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, Myself, an a couple of my hunting and fishing friends joined the Aqua Sierra Gun Club in Chatsworth for the purpose of recreational Trap and Skeet shooting and was quite fortunate to meet Roy Rogers, Clark Gable, and Frank Ferguson (all three who were “crack” shots and very seldom missed a clay bird) who were regulars there on Saturdays and Wednesdays and even had the opportunity to fill in with them on several occasions to make up a team for both Trap and Skeet. I found all three to be very friendly in every respect. You never really knew Roy unless you met him in person. If he had a dark side it sure never showed in the two years I new him personally.
Did the “powers that be” rend Trigger asunder and utilize his awesomeness in creating a Roy Rogers fast-food burger?
Just curious
No, but another fast-food chain may have, considering that Trigger had a Whopper of a history ….
Why didnt they move the museum back to the original area?
Rick, I suspect it’s because 1) the museum in Branson was running out of money; 2) the museum in Victorville saw its attendance drop precipitously after Roy’s death.
Ryan R- July 2,2011. He was a friend a hero and a lot more to me and others we rode motorcycles in the desert around Apple Valley together. We both loved a good birddog and the outdoors, Dusty and I are same age and I talked to him on phone the day of auction. If you have ever heard hurt and pain in someone’s voice it was far worst than mine. Remember him, love them all and always respect them and their memory. What had to be done was done and I hope all the things he loved and cared about are cherished by those who own them, now. May the good Lord take a liking to you. ADIOS
Dear Rogers Family,
I learned for the first time today that the musem was closing.
I never got to see it, but I enjoyed watching your parents on TV.
Your dad was so handsom and your mom so pretty. I even had a crush on Roy and was a bit jealous of Dale.
I know how difficult it is to give up parts of what you grew up with, but the wonderful memories will always be with you.
Sometimes we just have to do things that others don’t understand.
It’s what your parents wanted and they would understand.
Bless you all
When I heard the museum was moving from California, Victorville, I tried to get a hold of them to suggest they move the museum to Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard. I was told they had made up their mind to movie to Branson. Well, we now know that was a mistake, but the Roger’s kids weren’t too smart anyway. At least they cleaned up on the auction. But, the Gene Autry Museum, was a smart idea and they are very successful. They opened near the Hollywood tourists. Rogers family got what they deserved. They were just hangers on and had no experience in exploitation or business sense. Trigger, sold along with the other most important memories of Roy and Dale. They should have been in a museum where Roy’s fans were, not just country music fans in Branson. Rest in Peace Roy and Dale, you didn’t get to see what they did to your memories. Shame, shame, shame.
My ex-wife’s uncle William Witney wrote a fun book about his experiences with Trigger. He was the director of most of the old Roy Rogers’ movies at Republic Studios. It’s called “Trigger Remembered.” I thought it would be a cheap book on Amazon.com but just went there and see that the little book in used condition is now selling for $288.88. Bill gave us one, but my wife took it with her https://www.amazon.com/Trigger-remembered-William-Witney/dp/B0006EYMSG Too bad he didn’t give us two!
One story I remember him telling us was that Trigger was so smart that he was left by a tree alone. On cue a herd of “wild” horses was released down the canyon. Trigger’s job was to lead them down into a corral or some other place. When he finished the job he returned to the tree and stood still waiting for the shout “Take Two!” It definitely wasn’t his first film. Bill said that Trigger was the smartest horse he ever worked with.
So sad to hear about the loss of this important part of our American Heritage. It seems like this could have been avoided somehow. Why didn’t the family offer the collection to the Smithsonian instead of throwing it all away? I guess we’ll never know the truth about their motivations, but it is a terribly sad for all of us who grew up with Roy and Dale as our heroes to see this legacy treated this way. Happy Trails to all where we Will meet again!
I too am sad to hear of the museum closing. Roy and Dale were a part of my teenage years of growing up in Weatherford, TX. I never got to see the museum but I have my memories of Roy and Dale. I cried when I heard the news. It is so sad…
Ruthie
As yourself am sad so sad the Roy & Dale’s museum closed and sold all the grand memories many of us have from our childhood. Believe that if the family had thought of bringing Roy & Dale, along with Pat Brady’s last home here to Colorado they could have built a grand place were the west is the west and memories could have been shared with our children now and to come for many years.
I visited the museum in Victorville a couple years before it closed. I saw in a recent article from the Autry Museum in LA that they had purchased at “the auction”, one of Roy’s saddles and his earliest guitar. The Autry museum should have “gotten” most of Roy’s collection and made an additional wing onto the present location to house it. Think of the extra visitors they would get just by folks coming to see Trigger. Together the Autry would have housed the two most famous cowboy’s of the movies and Roy’s collection would not be scattered all over.
I understand people’s distress but this is the essence of Capitalism. People value profit above all other values and this is what you get. This has increasingly been shown to be a defective and destructive way to look at the world. It is unfortunate that the adulation of money destroys something worth so much more than money. Here is a wistful tribute to Roy Rogers from Elton John and Bernie Taupin:
It is indeed true that the children or other descendants of a famous person who dies will usually do what they can to perpetuate the celebrity concept of their parent, despite having none of it themselves. Clearly for some it is an attempt to ride the coat tails of the celebrity and obtain a comfortable living without any particular or corresponding effort on their part.
The fact that attendance at the museum fell sharply when Mr Rogers died is a testament to the fact that the celebrity is the one who garners attention, and the subsequent failure of the museum a testament to the inability of the descendants to live up to the parent’s life.
Sad, but true.
Do you think children who are determined to make their own paths in life, and not utilize the dregs of fame that they might manage to transfer to themselves from the parent, are more worthy of success that comes about?
Dusty, enjoyed your show and the museum in Branson. Took a group of 45 people with me from the Columbus Ohio area. So glad museum was in Branson as we would not have seen it as Ohio is a long way from California. JWR Dayton, Ohio
As a child growing up I too enjoyed watching many westerns, playing cowboy and have through the years felt a lost of years gone by that time has taken of my childhood memories. So sad to hear of this happen here in America. I have always remember my childhood memories and loved growing up in a great time. Yes, this is a very sad…sad…lost for us all……
Roland Julius Thibodeau
Can I help my name is Ray goodner I now own the old crystler building in Oroville CA . At 2170 Myers St . If I could help by display I would be glad to . Also would like to know more about this wonderful building and what Roy did here grew up watching his movies and show . Loved trigger . #530-712-0220. Call Mon through Fri 8to5 .
My grandparents lived across the street from the Dodge dealership (2165 Myers Street). Roy Rogers came there around 1955 or 56 as part of a Dodge promotion. I sat on his knee (I was about 5 or 6). That may have been my 15 minutes of fame. I used to have the picture they took of me sitting on his knee… lost now in the dust. I think I must have mentioned this previously on this site. Also there is a great song by Elton John/ Bernie Taupin titled “Roy Rogers” on the Goodbye to Yellow Brick Road album. I probably mentioned that previously too.
Did the address change since then . The building is at 2170 now . But it’s the dealer building has the show room up front . Also the next door neighbor Greg said he had a picture with Roy also . In that very parking lot . I get people commenting on it all the time . I didn’t know the building had such a history when I bought it . If you could snap a picture of your pic and text it to me at 530-712-0220 . I would be very thankful .
2165 was my grandmothers address. I will try to look up some pics and send them to you… in the fullness of time.
I am interested in Duck Run Ohio when they Slye family lived there, My grandma Hazel Daniels lived there as a child with her siblings and the Daniels kids went to school with Roy (Leonard Slye then). A few of the siblings visited the Roy Rogers museum when it was in CA and seen a pic of Roy and themselves in it. Does anyone have a copy of this pic? I did see it once in a book on Roy and Dale but couldn’t indentify them because I don’t know what they looked like. Hazels parents were John and Artie (Collins) Daniels.
I heard they moved the museum to Branson. Wonder how long it was out there before they closed it and sold everything off?I also heard they had done that. I was born in barstow Ca. In 1960. I met both Roy and Dale a few times. At a dude ranch in yermo/Newberry Springs. Its also long gone now. In fact the desert has actually taken the old ranch house back. It is totally covered in sandNothing stays forever. But all the great memories of the place. Funny when I was just 10 years old we left the Barstow area. Lived all over the mojave desert growing up. A 5 year stint in Tehachapi Ca. Then back to a small desert town again named Ridgecrest. Where I met my high school sweetheart 43 years ago. Then low and behold after 8 years of marriage and a stint with the Air Force and living in several states. My husband and I well actually found ourselves with our daughter and son living in Newberry Springs!!And we raised them out there until they graduated high school out there. And moved on with their lives. They actually got to become well known with my beloved friends of the old dude ranch. Then we decided to move to Apple Valley. We took our kids and neices nephew’s and other family members to the Roy Rodgers Dale Evans museum several times. My son just happened to be home on leave from the Navy the day the horse drawn Hurst went past our house with Roy to the cemetery where both lay in their final resting place. I remember my son coming home from church right after we moved to Apple Valley. All excited telling me how he met Roy and Dale in church that first Sunday. And after that first visit he made sure he respectively stopped to say hello to them in church when ever they were there most Sundays. That was before he joined the Navy. Then we decided to take a job offer over in Germany for several years. When we came back the museum had closed and moved to Branson. A few years later they had finally torn down the fort looking building. Awe those were the days never got the chance to take our granddaughters to it. Although I have taken them and showed them thier old house in Apple Valley and to their grave sites. Also to old route 66 museum showed them what old articles they have of theirs. And down the old route 66. They actually did get to visit the old dude ranch of my childhood and their fathers childhood days. Before the place was completely covered. They remember going inside the old place. And then stopped by there a couple years ago and they climbed up over and around the big sand dunes now. Sliding down the dunes on peices card board. It was so hard to believe there is a ranch house under there. They were amazed to see that. Life
The Family should be ashamed of themselves !
Very few people in the computer age are interested in stories of how the American west was won or why it needed to be . Most just see Roy Rogers as another Hollywood star whose popularity has come and gone .
It’s a shame .
Great story . Thanks for sharing .
I think Elton John has retired from the stage too . Just like Roy Rogers .
Fantastic idea ! Too bad Roy and Dale didn’t consider such a merger before they died . Or maybe they did and the notion was declined .
I thought moving their museum to Missouri was like moving Independence hall from Philadelphia to El Paso. Public response to it being there will not be the same . But money talks louder than reason .
Roy and Dale were such high profile images of the socialialization of the 19th century American West . It’s sad to see interest in the subject they championed wane .
Chuckle chuckle . Happy Trails to you too ! We still have the frontierman’s old horse trails even if Roy and Dale aren’t there to ride them with us . The Dept of Interior still contains some of the places where Roy and Dale’s movies were filmed . So giddyup .
Thanks for sharing .
Get horse lover story . Thanks for sharing .
Amazon.com now lists the paperback edition as150.00 ( 1/2021 ) , for those looking for a bargain . The 288.88 is for the hardcover .
Both as still pathetically out of budget for me .
Happy Trails
Hindsight is always 20 / 20 .
Sometimes Yanks get it right . Roy Rogers legacy is proof .
Thanks for sharing .
Lucky you . You met Trigger . Cool .
Aw . Cowpokes is underexposed , shortsighted losers to their kind ; quicker on the draw than they is with a book . Don’t sweat his disinformation much .
There are many Dale Evans fans around .
Those are famous last words worth remembering . Thanks for sharing !
Hi… I am Julie Fox, one of Roy and Dale’s grandchildren. All of their kids were not killed in the bus crash on August 17, 1964. It was only Debbie, my aunt. But you are right about one thing, grandpa was never the same after her death. Also, the bus didn’t drive off a cliff. Debbie and seven other people were killed when the bus blew a tire and careened into oncoming traffic killing all of the people in the station wagon the bus hit.
Also in response to the museum and how it is perceived as being a mistake to move it… Our museum was losing money in Victorville, after grandpa and grandma died. Grandpa always said, if the museum ever becomes a drain on the family, remove it or sell all the stuff and be done. The museum was not going to last much longer in Victorville anyway, and my uncle thought it might get a second chance in Branson, which I did.
any other questions, feel free to email me at happytrailsjulie@aol.com
PS… And yes my uncle Dusty had run-ins with the Victorville City Council, mainly because they made us jump through hoop after hoop, paying for multiple redundant feasibility studies, denying them water rights to that property, etc etc. All my family was trying to do, was build a fun theme park call RogersDale USA there in the city. But apparently the people on the city Council didn’t like that idea and thought that the family would be making money off the city so they tried to cut us off at every turn, dragging our family’s name through the mud nearly every day in the local paper. The irony is, RogersDale would have helped the economy, kept Victorville on the map and would have continued to provide a Roy and Dale presence. So kudos to the city Council for putting a stop to that whole project, thinking they were saving the town from the Rogers family, and keeping the city successful, growing, and on the map. Well we’ve seen how that worked out. The city treated us poorly, and it was a sad time for all of us in the family.
This last comment is to Dave, who said “the family should be ashamed of themselves.” I am part of that family you speak of, and I know many, many details that you don’t. I would think long and hard before commenting on something you obviously know nothing about.
My name is Julie and I am one of Roy and Dale’s grandchildren. You know absolutely none of the facts and details surrounding all of this. Best to keep quiet than to judge people and events you know nothing about.
Greedy??? Wow. You know nothing of our family. Moving the museum was a difficult choice. You are spouting off when you don’t even know the facts.
You know, I just keep scrolling up and seeing more and more mean comments from judgmental people who don’t even know any of the true facts. “The Roger’s family got what they deserved???” (Smh) Our choice was to shut down and sell everything to pay the IRS Death Tax money, or move it and try to keep Grandma and Grandpa’s legacy out there where fans wanted to see it for a little while longer. And we did. “Not too smart,” huh? I’m going to stop commenting on people’s posts now. All I can say is, “Shame on you.”