The Colorful, Classic Past Is Present
at Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks

 Lake of the Ozarks, Mo. – Muffler Men, Indian Burial Cave, giraffe stone cabins, wedding caves, skee ball and piano-playing chickens: From the kitschy to the classic, they all have been part of the allure of Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks.

The Lake has been a family favorite since the completion of Bagnell Dam 75 years ago.  Through the years, a lot has changed.  But, among all the new shopping centers and condos now under construction are many traces of the past that visitors recall from their childhoods – and can share with their own children or grandchildren today.
   
Just northeast of Bagnell Dam on Business Highway 54, one classic of the past is Willmore Lodge.  This historic log building was constructed in 1930 by Union Electric Company (now AmerenUE) as an administrative and entertainment center for its Bagnell Dam project.  Today it houses a tourist information center and a fascinating, free-admission museum. Best of all, Willmore's huge picture window offers visitors a scenic, sweeping view of the Lake.
   
From Willmore Lodge the highway curves around to Bagnell Dam itself, the engineering feat that started it all when it was opened to traffic on May 30, 1931.  As visitors drive over the dam's 20-foot-wide roadway, they can reflect on these impressive statistics: The 54,000-acre Lake is 92 miles long, with 1,150 miles of shoreline, and holds 646 billion gallons of water.  The $30-million, 2,543-foot-long concrete gravity dam generates 215,000 kilowatts of power that provides electricity to a large portion of Missouri.
   
Just past the dam is Casino Pier, home of the excursion boats Captain Larry-Don and the Commander. Owner Tom Carver says, “The history of Casino Pier is a little convoluted.”  He believes the pier was the dock for a private restaurant and club owned by Union Electric, built in the 1930s and called The Casino. “I understand UE chose that name to mean ‘a nice place to eat and relax,'” says Lake-area historian and writer Mike Gillespie.  “The connotation of a casino being a gambling hall was not so commonly used then as it is now.”
   
Other excursion boats preceded the Larry-Don which arrived in 1948 and today is the oldest operating commercial boat on the Lake.  It was named for Lawrence Fry Jr., and Don Fry, the son and brother, respectively, of the original owner Lawrence Fry.  The vessel's hull was fabricated in St. Louis from sections of World War II landing craft.
   
Over the decades the Larry-Don has been modified – including the addition of “Captain” to its name.  Today the three-level boat which resembles a giant pontoon has a capacity of 200 passengers and offers sightseeing, dancing, karaoke and private cruises.  In the 1940s many couples got married on the Larry-Don.  “The newlyweds got a souvenir good-luck horseshoe with ‘Larry-Don' on it,” Carver says.  The smaller, 100-passenger Commander, which also offers excursion cruises, arrived in 1962.
   
Beyond Casino Pier lay the wonders of the world-renowned Bagnell Dam Strip – about a mile of flea markets, motels, motorcycle shops, restaurants, candle shops, tattoo parlors, snack bars, T-shirt and swimwear shops, Indian jewelry stores, fudge shops, arcades, psychics, batting cages, old-time photos, a merry-go-round, and Miss Angie's 1891 Haunted Hotel, complete with scary sounds and dead bushes.  Today, the eclectic mix includes an increasing number of upscale gift shops and boutiques, including a store just for pampered pooches.
   
But for generations of visitors, no trip to the Lake of the Ozarks is complete without a stop at that Strip institution, Dogpatch.  Opened by Walter Tietmeyer in 1947 and based on Al Capp's comic strip, Dogpatch featured a combo gas station/souvenir shop, a live snake pit, a lion, piano- and tic-tac-toe-playing chickens, and an outhouse featuring a hillbilly mannequin screaming, “Shut that door!”
   
Today those talented chickens are long gone, and the lonely guy in the outhouse is less vocal. Inside the big, bright, well-stocked Dogpatch store are generations of families searching for the perfect Lake of the Ozarks gifts and souvenirs.  The store is known for its friendly atmosphere and quirky features including the fortune telling machine, elephant skull and “Old Grandpa” the talking hillbilly.  Mike Page bought the place in 1993; he also owns Leatherman and Grandma's Candy Kitchen, home of 20 flavors of fudge and 40 flavors of saltwater taffy.
   
“We try to keep the old-fashioned atmosphere and nostalgia,” Page says of the Dogpatch store.  The most popular items, he notes, are “anything with yesteryear appeal. Adults who come to the Strip used to come here as children.  Now they're bringing their children and grandchildren to experience what they experienced before.  Some things never change and that's comforting.”
   
In addition to Dogpatch, among those things that don't change at the Lake are the Muffler Men.  These fiberglass giants originally were created in the 1960s by a California company for gas station chains and were used to lure owners of noisy automobiles to replace their mufflers.  As businesses closed or changed owners, the Muffler Men were moved to other locations.
   
Apparently the Strip is lucky to have two, including one of the most rare styles, the “Half-Wit” (as designated by Roadside America ) in front of Dogpatch.  Dressed like a hillbilly, he has the head of MAD Magazine 's Alfred E. Neuman and one arm raised in perpetuity as he waves to the giant Indian across the street at the Rebel Arcade.  The Indian comes from Oklahoma.  “That's about all I know about him,” says Rebel Arcade owner Keith Blankenship. “We repaint him as often as needed to keep him looking good.”
   
The Rebel Arcade opened in 1972.  Blankenship, a City of Lake Ozark alderman, bought it in 1997.  He also owns the 45-year-old Ten-Cent Skee Ball and 40-year-old Bumper Cars down the road.  “We have the cheapest skee ball in the United States,” he says.  That helps kids rack up prize tickets faster. A lot of the low-ticket prizes, like plastic smiley-face rings, “get sucked up by the vacuum cleaner as soon as the family gets home,” Blankenship notes.  Currently the most valuable prize at Rebel Arcade is a four-foot tall stuffed bear redeemable for a mere 8,000 skee ball tickets.
   
The arcade also features a wide selection of pinball and video games. None of them is state-of-the-art but Blankenship doesn't worry about keeping up with technology.  “A lot of them are classic games I played when I was younger, like Pac-Man and Mario Brothers,” he says.  “Kids today aren't familiar with these games but when they play them they love them.”  Since older games cost less to purchase, Blankenship says families can get more plays for their dollars.  “None of us who owns a business on the Strip will ever be a millionaire,” he says, “but it's fun to be around families and kids.”
   
Leaving the Strip, visitors pass the Rockwood-Capri Resort Motel at 1701 Bagnell Dam Blvd.  It's a great example of a “giraffe house,” a distinctively Ozarks style of veneer based on flat sandstone slabs.  Giraffe houses and “cobblestone cottages” were popular throughout the Lake area in the 1930s and 1940s.  Most of the Lake's stone gas stations, motorcourts and other businesses are gone, but a few, like the Rockwood-Capri, are still standing and open for business.
   
Following Highway 54 through Osage Beach toward Camdenton, visitors encounter the Lake area's third Muffler Man, a towering Paul Bunyan who waves to passersby and holds an American flag in front of a furniture store on Highway 54 in Osage Beach.  His arm was stolen a few years back and just as mysteriously returned.
   
Just north of Camdenton is another Lake of the Ozarks classic, Bridal Cave.  Its name comes from an Osage Indian legend involving a kidnapping, a suicidal leap off an Ozarks cliff and an Indian wedding ceremony held inside a cave in the early 1800s – thereafter named Bridal Cave.  The cave continues to live up to its name.  As of late May, 2006, more than 2,030 weddings had been held in the cave's stalactite-adorned Bridal Chapel since 1949.  Wedding packages cost about $400-$500, including lifetime passes to the cave.
   
“We average about 40 weddings a year,” says Dave Thompson, Bridal Cave manager.  “Getting married here is something different and also it's quite affordable.  The cave formations make wedding pictures really special.”  Another distinctive feature of the 46-million-year-old cave is its accessibility by water at the 10.5-mile marker on the Lake of the Ozarks' Big Niangua Arm.
   
No story about Ozarks classics is complete without a mention of Indian Burial Cave, about two miles south of Bagnell Dam.  Opened to the public in 1960, it featured Native American artifacts and skeletal remains displayed behind chicken wire.  Although the cave has been closed since 1987, Lake visitors remember thousands (so it seemed) of unique road signs that popped up every mile or two on all the major highways in the region, advertising the cave. The legs of the sign were designed to resemble two large arrows pointing downward with the billboard itself suspended between them.
   
Reminders of the past are just part of the appeal for visitors at the Lake of the Ozarks. Today, the Lake welcomes 21st century visitors with all types of water recreation, 17 challenging golf courses, the state's largest outlet shopping center and largest state park, more than 7,700 lodging units in 250-plus resorts/hotels/condos, and more than 100 restaurants.  

After 75 years of pleasing visitors, the Lake continues to grow and change – remaining as fresh as today and as exciting as tomorrow.

For more information about lodging, dining, attractions, shopping and events at Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks, call 800-FUN-LAKE or visit the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitor Bureau's web site, www.funlake.com .