Jim the Wonder Dog’s 100th Birthday Party

Join us 11 a.m. March 10 at the Ozark Heritage Welcome Center for a birthday party in honor of a special past resident of West Plains, Jim the Wonder Dog! Mayor Mike Topliff will proclaim March 10-14 as “Jim the Wonder Dog Week,” we’ll have a brief presentation about Jim, and will celebrate with birthday cupcakes. We also have a gift for your own “wonder dog” if you tell us about your special pup.

For those who might not be familiar with the incredible story of Jim, he was a Llewellyn setter born March 10, 1925, in Louisiana. Brought to West Plains when he was a few months old by his human companion, Sam VanArsdale, manager of the Arcade Hotel, Jim lived in town for three years before he and Sam moved to Marshall, Missouri, where Jim has his own museum.

Jim not only displayed extraordinary skill as a hunting dog, at one point being named by Outdoor Life Magazine as “The Hunting Dog of the Country,” but furthermore he possessed skills and talents which defied reason, logic, and explanation for a canine to accomplish, and which were put on display for thousands of amazed individuals over the years before his death in 1937.

He was the subject of a multitude of eyewitness accounts, has had books written about his mind-boggling feats, and was declared “Missouri’s Wonder Dog,” an official state symbol, by the state legislature on June 23, 2017.

If you want to learn more about Jim – or are already a fan – be sure to mark your calendar and stop by!