Look Back: Lake of the Ozarks, 1931 | Buy historic photos & newspaper pages

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Look Back: Lake of the Ozarks, 1931

Date: 10/15/2009 Album ID: 865868

Photos by Post-Dispatch staff photographers and files

On Oct. 16, 1931, workers inside the new Bagnell Dam flipped switches to run current from its big hydroelectric generators. High-power lines strung through dense, hilly forests carried power to a big feeder station in Wellston and to present-day Park Hills, in Missouri�s old Lead Belt. Back then, Union Electric Light and Power Co.�s dam on the Osage River was hailed for its power to make electricity. A few rough fishing camps popped up along the dam�s creation, the Lake of the Ozarks. But it would take almost three decades to turn the 60,000-acre reservoir into a bustling summertime playground.

A shack offers overnight lodging in Bagnell, Mo., in August 1930, during construction of the nearby Bagnell Dam. Such luxuries as the Lodge of the Four Seasons wouldn't come along for another three decades. (Post-Dispatch)

The main drag in Bagnell, Mo., in August 1930, during the construction-boom days. Among the offerings on the dirt boulevard were hamburgers, shoe repair, lodging and produce. As Prohibition still was on, any liquor was through a side door. Note that Taylor's Cafe on the left promised better eats by a dam site. The Bagnell project was four miles way. (Post-Dispatch)

The Lake of the Ozarks already had just begun to fill behind the uncompleted dam when this photograph was taken on Feb. 27, 1931, just below the dam on the Osage River. (File photo)

A fire that swept through the town of Bagnell on March 16, 1931, killed two men and destroyed 19 wooden buildings, including a hotel, a bank, the jail and Union Electric's office. Firefighters from Jefferson City, 35 miles to the north, had to help stop the blaze. The town had become a bustling construction camp when work on the dam began in August 1929. (File photo)

Smoke and steam rise from pile drivers and cranes during construction in March 1931. Note the round shafts for the water-driven turbines that will spin the generators. (File photo)

An aerial view of old Linn Creek, Mo., taken in May 1931 as the lake was filling. Union Electric Light and Power Co., predecessor of AmerenUE, bought out the property in the town. Because old Linn Creek was the Camden County seat, Union Electric paid for a new courthouse in nearby Camdenton. Linn Creek was covered by the lake. The new town of Linn Creek, just north of Camdenton, was built later. (Clint Murphy/Post-Dispatch)

Overflow from the lake rushes over the Bagnell Dam spillways in December 1931 after heavy rains. (File photo)

In the early days of the lake, what passed for the tourism industry was fishing, hunting and an occasional pleasure boat. Most of the early lodgings were spare. But this photo shows three well-dressed dandies showing off their top-of-the-line wooden motorboat at a dock near the dam in July 1933. (File photo)

This new school at Lake Ozark, Mo., shown in May 1934, was the first project completed by the Public Works Administration in Missouri. That agency was one of the federal government's Depression-era efforts. (File photo)

A powerboat leaves a meandering wake at Lake of the Ozarks in November 1936. (File photo)

Water rushes over the spillways in June 1937. (File photo

Another view of the open spillways, this one taken in late 1937. (File photo)

The lodge at Camp Pin Oak, on the Grand Glaize arm of the lake, on display for its opening in August 1939. The National Park Service built it for recreation. The lodge and area were turned over to the state in 1946 and became part of Lake of the Ozarks State Park. (File photo)

Swimmers and observers at the newly opened Camp Pin Oak in 1939. (File photo)

Another aerial view of the dam and lake in September 1948 showing the sharp turn of horseshoe bend. (File photo)

The old Lowell Boat Docks near the U.S. 54 bridge over the Niangua River arm of the lake, just west of Camdenton, in September 1948. (File photo)

This photo taken near the U.S. 54 bridge over the Grand Glaize arm shows some of the recreation available in 1953. An enclosed dock forms a swimming area. Beyond it is the Gov. McClurg, an old ferry remade into an excursion boat. (File photo)

An excursion float plane flies tourists above the Osage River valley in July 1957. (File photo)

The winding main channel of Lake of the Ozarks in an undated aerial photograph. (File photo)

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