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{{Short description|Fictional stone-age community in the Li'l Abner comic strip}}
{{About|the setting of ''Li'l Abner''|the neighborhood in San Francisco|Dogpatch, San Francisco|the abandoned theme park|Dogpatch USA |other uses}}

'''Dogpatch''' was the fictional setting of [[cartoonist]] [[Al Capp]]'s classic [[comic strip]] ''[[Li'l Abner]]'' (1934–1977).

== ''Li'l Abner'' comic strip ==
{{Refimprove|section|date=May 2021}}
The inhabitants of Dogpatch were mostly lazy [[hillbillies]], who usually wanted nothing to do with progress.  ''Li'l Abner''{{'s}} backwater hometown chiefly consisted of dismal [[log cabin]] hovels, pine trees, "tarnip" fields and hog wallows—and was often referred to by its inhabitants and outsiders as being the most miserable and unnecessary place on earth.  The menfolk were too lazy to work, yet Dogpatch gals were desperate enough to chase them (see [[Sadie Hawkins Day]]). Those who farmed their turnip fields watched turnip termites swarm by the billions once a year, locust-like, to devour Dogpatch's only crop (along with their livestock and all their clothing).

Al Capp used to joke that Dogpatch was based on [[Seabrook, New Hampshire]], where he would vacation with his wife, Catherine.<ref>''[[Portsmouth Herald]]'': [http://www.seacoastonline.com/2004news/07042004/news/24976.htm "Last of the Yankees"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050926124300/http://www.seacoastonline.com/2004news/07042004/news/24976.htm |date=September 26, 2005 }}</ref> A map shown during the story arc of the [[Shmoo]] seems to place Dogpatch somewhere around [[Tennessee]] or [[Arkansas]]. However, one of the earliest (1934) ''Li'l Abner'' strips, re-posted on the web by [[Comics.com]] in March 2008, explicitly identifies Dogpatch as being in [[Kentucky]] and several 1936 strips also clearly place it in Kentucky. One 1936 strip furthermore mentions that [[Lee City, Kentucky|Lee City]] (a small town in eastern Kentucky) is just over {{convert|100|mi|abbr=on}} away.
  
The local geography was fluid and vividly complex; Capp continually changed it to suit either his whims or the current storyline.  It has been variously situated in a deep valley, at the base of a peak that's precariously balancing an enormous boulder (Teeterin' Rock), or atop Onnecessary Mountain overlooking an apparently infinite chasm, Bottomless Canyon.  It was usually described as situated between the equally fictitious towns of Skonk Hollow (inhabited by lethally dangerous, even more backward mountaineers) and Pineapple Junction. Like the [[Coconino County, Arizona|Coconino County]] depicted in [[George Herriman]]'s ''[[Krazy Kat]]'' and the [[Okefenokee Swamp]] of [[Walt Kelly]]'s ''[[Pogo (comic strip)|Pogo]]'', Dogpatch's (and [[Lower Slobbovia]]'s) distinctive cartoon landscape became as identified with the strip as any of its characters.

Local Dogpatch institutions included West Po'kchop Railroad, which ran perpendicularly up one side of Onnecessary Mountain and straight down the other. A stiffnecked industrialist named Stubborn J. Tolliver built its suicidal grade to satisfy a boyish dream of his son, Idiot J. Tolliver. To keep his boy happy, Tolliver starts one train a week up the tracks. Each train falls back with a crash, killing all its passengers.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,813720,00.html |title=The Press: Die Monstersinger  |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=November 6, 1950}}</ref>
Another daily hazard, the Skonk Works, was almost as lethal.  Scores have been done in by the fumes of the concentrated "skonk" oil which is brewed and barreled at the factory by its owner and "inside man", Big Barnsmell; and his cousin, "outside man" Barney Barnsmell (see also [[Skunk Works]]). 

Mail was very slow, with the ancient, white-bearded postmaster and his creaky [[Donkey|jackass]] mount (Young Eddie McSkonk and U.S. Mule) often feeling too stressed to deliver the cobweb-covered sacks of timeworn letters marked "Rush" at the Dogpatch Express post office.  Dogpatch's various feature attractions also included Kissin' Rock (handy to Suicide Cliff), the [[Jubilation T. Cornpone]] memorial statue, and Dogpatch Airlines, with decrepit [[World War I]] [[aviator]] Cap'n Eddie Ricketyback, proprietor (a pun on [[Eddie Rickenbacker]]).

== Theme park ==
In 1967, Al Capp licensed and had an interest in an {{convert|800|acre|km2|adj=on}} $35 million [[theme park]] called [[Dogpatch USA]] in [[Marble Falls, Arkansas|Marble Falls]] near [[Harrison, Arkansas]], based on the comic strip's setting and featuring a [[trout farm]], [[Horse and buggy|buggy]] and [[Equestrianism|horseback]] rides, entertainment by characters from the [[Li'l Abner]] comic strip, and eventually [[amusement rides]].<ref name=cal/><ref name=ark/> Opening in 1968, the park had 300,000 visitors in its first year.<ref name=ark/>

The park closed in 1993 due to mismanagement and financial debt. It had been scheduled to reopen as [[Heritage USA]] Ozarks Resort in 2020,<ref name=ark>{{cite web |url=http://www.4029tv.com/article/dogpatch-usa-site-to-reopen-as-heritage-usa/19464766 |title = Filmmakers host premiere for Dogpatch USA documentary| date=16 March 2018 }}</ref> but in 2020 it was sold to [[Bass Pro Shops]] founder [[Johnny Morris (businessman)|Johnny Morris]] for $1.12 million, to become "a nature experience for future generations to enjoy." Morris is reportedly interested in "restoration of the large [[natural spring]] and bringing back to life the renowned [[Aquaculture of salmonids|trout hatchery]] and many future [[fishing]] opportunities."<ref name=cal>{{cite web |title=Buyer of Arkansas park disclosed as Bass Pro Shops founder |url=https://calgary.citynews.ca/2020/08/05/buyer-of-arkansas-park-disclosed-as-bass-pro-shops-founder/ |website=calgary.citynews.ca |date=5 August 2020 |publisher=CityNews 660, Calgary AB, Canada |access-date=12 December 2022 }}</ref>

== Other uses ==
*[[U.S. Army]] and [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] units in Vietnam during the [[Vietnam War]] often called their housing compounds "Dogpatches", due to the primitive conditions.{{cn|date=May 2021}}
*The term was used by American chemical engineers such as William J. Wilcox, Jr. and Warren Fuchs, during [[World War II]] who were working on the [[Manhattan Project]]; the engineers used the term from the comic strip to describe their first [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]] dormitories, with dark and dismal furniture and used beds from an old YMCA, and kept using the term when they transferred to [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]].<ref>William J. (Bill) Wilcox Jr., Oak Ridge City Historian, Retired Technical Director for the Oak Ridge Y-12 & K-25 Plants, November 11, 2007, [http://www.oakridgeheritage.com/images/Early_Days_of_Oak_Ridge_and_Wartime_Y-12.pdf Early Days of Oak Ridge and Wartime Y-12] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129042228/http://www.oakridgeheritage.com/images/Early_Days_of_Oak_Ridge_and_Wartime_Y-12.pdf |date=November 29, 2014 }}, Retrieved November 22, 2014</ref>
*[[47th Fighter Squadron]] is known as the DogPatchers, and their [[A-10C]] aircraft are named after the characters from ''Li'l Abner''. Each airplane has artwork depicting these characters located on the inside of the boarding ladder door.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hecht |first=Matt |date=2012-02-29 |title=Reserve A-10s in the fight |url=https://www.dvidshub.net/image/532752/reserve-10s-fight |access-date=2022-08-06 |website=DVIDS |language=en}}</ref>
*Dogpatch is also the name of a restaurant in [[Munising, Michigan]], United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dogpatchrestaurant.com/ |title=Dogpatch Restaurant of Munising Michigan |access-date=October 20, 2021}}</ref>
*Various cities and towns have neighborhoods, often [[lower social class]], nicknamed "Dogpatch" in reference to the comic strip's locale, including 
**[[Marble Falls, Arkansas]]
**[[Dogpatch, San Francisco]]
**[[Dog Patch, West Virginia]]
**[[Edmonton]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Dogpatch |url=https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/edmonton_archives/dogpatch# |website=Edmonton.ca |publisher=City of Edmonton |access-date=12 December 2022}}</ref>
**[[Greater Sudbury]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Lively's Dogpatch to be rebranded as Little Creighton |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/lively-s-dogpatch-to-be-rebranded-as-little-creighton-1.3193969 |website=CBC News |publisher=CBC |access-date=12 December 2022}}</ref>
**[[Calgary]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kaufmann |first1=Bill |title=Ex-Calgarian Tommy Chong heralds a cannabis ban going up in smoke |url=https://calgaryherald.com/cannabis/cannabis-business/ex-calgarian-tommy-chong-heralds-a-cannabis-ban-going-up-in-smoke |website=Calgary Herald |access-date=12 December 2022}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Li'l Abner}}

[[Category:Fictional elements introduced in 1934]]
[[Category:Fictional populated places in the United States]]
[[Category:Fictional locations in comics]]
[[Category:Li'l Abner]]
[[Category:Fictional populated places in Kentucky]]
[[Category:1934 in comics]]