2018 Business Directory & Community Guide

I n the early 1900s, when Union Electric, decided to build a hydroelectric dam on the Osage River, they may not have realized how completely it would change central Missouri, forever. But, in fact, the damming of the Osage River, which created the 64,000-acre Lake of the Ozarks, turned mid-Missouri into one of the premier recreation destinations in the country. And still today, some 87 years later, the area continues to change and grow on an almost daily basis. In fact, the Lake Area is so popular as a tourism and vacation destination that the Missouri Division of Tourism estimates that it draws some 3.5 million visitors, annually. In addition to the obvious recreational choices of world-class boating, water sports, resorts, and numerous PGA- approved golf courses, the Lake Area also offers more than 100 fine dining establishments, family restaurants as well as other recreational choices such as mini golf, go cart tracks, water parks, arcades and some of the best shopping in the state. In addition to the "Osage Beach Outlet Marketplace" mall, several smaller shopping centers, numerous national chains and hundreds of locally owned shops, the area also is home to one of the oldest shopping and tourist destinations in central Missouri, "e Bagnell Dam Strip." Known locally as "e Strip," the one-mile long section of U.S. Business Highway 54 lies in the City of Lake Ozark immediately west of Bagnell Dam. It was along that short street that the very first Lake Area recreational businesses, gi shops and restaurants were built in the 1930s. Built before most of the towns in the region even existed, "e Strip" is still one of the most popular vacation and recreational destinations in the Lake Area. In fact, according a number of recent polls, the Lake Area is so popular with consumers that shopping is one of the top five reasons that visitors come to the Lake. Two of the state's most popular parks are also located along its shoreline. Missouri's biggest, Lake of the Ozarks State Park, covers some 17,400 square acres of Miller and Camden Counties. And, is home to two public beaches, miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails, campgrounds, cabins, group camp compounds, caverns and 80-plus manmade structures that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corp under the auspices of President Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration, Lake of the Ozarks State Park was originally a national recreation site. Turned over to the state in the 1940s, it quickly became Missouri's most popular state park. Today, more than two million people visit the park each year, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. West of Camdenton, Ha Ha Tonka State Park is also extremely popular. Boasting the ruins of a castle-like compound built Welcome to the Lake of the Ozarks A great place to live, work and play Page 2 Chamber of Commerce Business Directory

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