Lake History:

The world renowned recreation area known as the Lake of the Ozarks began in the early days of the 20th Century with the need to supply electricity to the City of St. Louis.  The lake was born on August 6, 1929 when workers began building a hydroelectric dam across the Osage River near th tiny town of Bagnell in the zark palteau of mid-Missouri.  THe $30 million dam project was the undertaking of Union Electric Company (UE).  The dam project would creat 10,000 jobs and eventually employ 25,000 workers to fill those jobs.  When it  was built Lake of the Ozarks was the largest manmade lake in the world.

To create the 1,375 miles of lake shoreline the electric company built a concrete dam 2,543 feet long, supporting a 20-ft roadway and a 3-ft wide sidewalk.  At the time it generated 215,000 kilowatts of electricity most of which was sent to St. Louis and surrounding areas.

To allow the waters of the Osage, Niangua and Little Niangua Rivers and numerous creeks and streams to fill the lake, UE surveyed and mapped more than 100 square miles and cleared thousands of trees from 30,000 acres of Ozark valleys and hills. Workman moved 900 miles of fence, 32 cemeteries, containing 2,850 grave and the entire town of Linn Creek, population 500.

The lake opened for use May 1931 just two years after construction began.  Over the next 30 years several resorts were established on the lake's shores, but it wasn't until the 1960's that the area began to be know as a tourist mecca.

In the late 1970's the lake area began a development boon that has continued at such a rate that by the beginning of the second millenium it is one of the fastest growing areas in the Midwest.

Today the lake is still privately owned by AmeronUE Corporation.  It covers 61,000 acres and holds 617 billion gallons or 87 billion cubic feet of water.  Enough to supply  the entire city of St. Louis for 12 years.  The surrounding area hosts more than 4 million visitors each year and is the site of 40 percent of the vacation homes of Missouirians who own second homes.

Two of Missouri's premier state parks are in the lake area.  Lake of the Ozarks State Park which at 17,000 acres is the largest in Missouri and Ha Ha Tonka which is consedered by many to be one of the most scenic.

The lake's shores stretch from Bagnell Dam in the town of Lake Ozark, 92 miles in a northweterly direction to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' dam on Truman Lake.  There are more than 40,000 boat docks along its shorelines and upwards of 70,000 boats plying its waters on any given holiday weekend.  The lake is kept safe by a contingency of 21 officers of the Missouri Water Patrol, a division of the state's Department of Public Safety.  In addition to the lake's reputation for unsurpassed boating, fishing and other water sports, the area boasts a plethera of professional-style gold courses and is home to two other well-know amusement destinations, Bagnell Dam Strip and the world famous Party Cove.

Did you Know?

Did you know that the lake area has some of the most unique natural and man-made features in the state, or for that matter in the whole country.

For instance, did you know that even though Missouri became a state in 1821, several of the towns in Miller and Camden counties did not exist until the latter part of the 1900's.

That's right! The cities of Camdenton, Lake Ozark and Osage Beach were built after Untion Electric built Bagnell Dam and Lake of the Ozarks.  In fact, Camdenton was built specifically to serve as the county seat of Camden County in 1930.  Lake Ozark and Osage Beach were both incorporated in the 1960's.  Previously, they had simply been a series of privately-owned tourist stops along Highway 54.

Just in case you already knew those facts, how about these:

• That Lake of the Ozarks State Park at 17,441 acres is the largest in Missouri.  That year-round camping is available in Lakes of the Ozarks STate Park in th eform of primitive cabins furnished only with wood stoves and no plumbing or electricity.

• That Ha Ha Tonka was supposed to be our first state park, but asn't accepted by the state legislature until 1978, making it not Missouri's oldest, but one of its yougest state parks.

• That the spring at Ha Ha Tonka spews out more that 4.8 millions gallons of water daily.

• That what is now Ha Ha Tonka State Park was once a favorite hunting and trapping spot of Daniel Boone and his son Nathon.

• That Lee Mace's Ozark Opera in Osage Beach is the oldest live-on-stage country music show in the state of Missouri.

• That at nearly 1,300 miles of shoreline of the Lake of the Ozarks is longer than the coastline of California.

• That more than 3.5 million tourists visit the lake between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year.

• That Camden County is one of the top five fastest frowing counties in Missouri.

• That nearly all of the rivers of the Ozarks flow north instead of south, including the Osage, Niangua, Glaize and Little Niangua all of which feed the Lade of the Ozarks.

• That Pomme de Terre lake, 45 miles southwest of Camdenton, Truman Lake, ninety miles northwest of Camdenton and the Lake of the Ozarks are interconnected and the water level in one affects the level in the other two.

• That when the weathermen say the water level in Lake of the Ozarks is at 660 feet, they are talking about sea level not water level depth.

• That Bagnell Dam houses 8 turbines capable of generating 212 million watts of electricity and pumping 1.4 million gallons of water per second through the dam.

• That Bagnell Dam at 148 feet wide by 148 feet high is held in place by a combination of gravity and its own weight.

• That Bagnell Dam is hollow and has numerous rooms on several floors.

• That Bagnell Dam's lowest point is 130 feet below the service of the lake.

• That the entire operation of Bagnell and Taumsauk Dams is controlled by one man who sits at a computer inside Bagnell.

• That Willmore Lodge, now a visitor's center and museum, was originally built as a guest house for dignitaries who came to the Ozarks to watch the construction of Bagnell Dam.

• That the Willmore Lodge is constructed entirely of logs brought here from Oregan specifically for that purpose.

• That the entire town of Linn Creek, once the county seat of Camden County, had to be moved 4 miles up hill to make way for the lake.

• That prior to the construction of the lake a large segment of the population of Camden County was African American.

• That one of Missouri's earliest governors, Joseph W. McClurg began his political career in Camden County.

• That in the 1940's and 50's, tours of local caves, including Bridal Cave, Jacobs Cave, Stark Caverns and the caves in what is now Ha Ha Tonka State Park drew almost as many visitors as the lake, itself.

The building of Bagnell Dam