Ozark Easy Living Community Guide 2003OZARK Named for the Gently Rolling Hills that French Canadian Trappers called "aux arcs."
By Donna OsbornFrench Canadian trappers called the gentle rolling hills of Southwest Missouri aux arcs. That soon became Ozarks to American pioneers who settled here. And each year a group of modern day mountain men, dressed in 19th century looking costumes, rendezvous at Finley River Park where those trappers walked the banks of the Finley nearly 200 years ago.
The Delaware Trace Free Trappers Rendezvous dots the park for one weekend each spring with parchment-colored teepee-like shelters. Smoke from campfires waft over the river in the early morning light. It must look similar to what it did in the 1800s when all who traveled through the area were trappers or Osage Indians or explorers like Henry Schoolcraft. In 1818 Schoolcraft began a 90-day trek through the uncharted land, part of Thomas Jefferson's 1803 Louisiana Purchase and chronicled his passage through the Finley valley. The Finley lost its "d" in the original spelling over the years, but not its allure.
"We entered the valley of Findley's Fork, or river, a large stream running from the northeast, and tributary to James' river, the main northwestern branch of WHite River," Schoolcraft wrote. "We pursued down this stream five miles, passing over a body of well-wooded fertile river bottom."
It is the quiet Finley, in its serene majesty of pristine clear water, that brought people and progress to the mountain foothills. The Ozark community sprang up around Hoover's Mill or the Ozark Water Mill, built on the Finley River in 1833 by James Kimberling, Sr. There was a store in the same vicinity owned by a man named Eustler; and a man named Eldridge operated a blacksmith shop nearby.
The mills was a designated polling place and the center of news, socialization and commerce-where townspeople plotted politics, started or settled disputes and exchanged money for goods and services.
The mill stands today as a tangible link to the past. One of only a few operational mills surviving today.
Owned by Johnny Morris' Bass Pro Shops, Springfield, the Ozark Water Mill is a gem waiting for the right opportunity to again be the center of town.
"It's the longest operating mill in the state," said ground and project supervisor for Bass Pro Shops Sonny Swinney in an interview several years ago. "The mill was a centerpiece of activity for Christian County."
Swinney said Morris bought the mill with the vision of a restaurant and bakery. And that vision could be realized with revitalization efforts beginning to percolate on the Ozark Square.
Things didn't begin to percolate for Ozark until 1843 when lots were sold by J.C. and A.N. Farmer. It was established as a town in 1848 and became the county seat in 1859, according to information from Katherine Dowdy, Ozark resident and historic preservationist.
Dowdy writes that the settlers from Appalachia preferred the "rocky slopes and bottomlands to the lush grasslands of the nearby Springfield Plateau.
"Very little construction took place in Ozark's city square until the end of the Civil War...(and there's) only one pre-war building still (standing.) The Weaver House, built around 1855, is the oldest building in the city... it serves as the business offices for the (Ozark) Parks and Recreation Department."
Dowdy continues saying that it wasn't until the prosperous 1890s and into the 1930s that any real construction resulted in most of the "handsome brick buildings that make up the downtown square...including the three storied Christian County Courthouse."
But it was before the building of that "handsome" courthouse that gives Ozark an infamous legend and dubious monument on the west side of that Courthouse Square: The Bald Knobbers. They were a vigilante group that policed the Ozark hills after the Civil War with "their own brand of justice." Eventually the group engaged in the same activity they were sworn to stop. Their reign of terror stopped on May 10, 1889 when the final three Bald Knobbers met the end of a rope like many lawless fellow before them.
With the end of the Bald Knobbers came the beginning of real prosperity for Ozark. Dowdy writes that it was between 1890 and 1930 many of the Ozark historic neighborhoods were developed.
"Streets radiating from the bustling courthouse Square were filled with new homes, from the modest to the grand. These quaint neighborhoods help give Ozark its charming small-town feeling savored by residents and visitors alike."
And Ozark couldn't be Ozark without the Riverside Inn. Built in the early 1920s by artist Howard Garrison, the Riverside is steeped in local folklore worthy of a clip from the famed television series and movie, "The Untouchables."
During prohibition, Riverside Inn, played host to a decadent Springfield high society who drank and gambled in a hidden room behind the main dining room. The feds set a trap for Garrison, who was known as a gentlemen.
A Springfield news report read:"It was a sting that lured Garrison into delivering liquor to a big powerful car where W.L. Vanderventer, U.S. District Attorney and a seductive Lula LaRoche, famous woman narcotics agent from Washington, D.C., lounged with another narcotic agent. Lula pulled a revolver from the folds of her skirt."
The account tells of a sweeping raid that caught bootleggers in and around Springfield. Garrison who was described as wearing a "cloak of respectability" went to jail on March 6, 1929.
Two years later he reopened the restaurant and even after the repeal of the 18th Amendment, he did not serve liquor. Garrison's legacy lives on in his murals painted inside the Riverside. Not long before his death in 1974, Garrison sold the Riverside to Jack Engle, who had worked there.
Jack Engle sold the restaurant to his son, Eric who owns and operates it today with his wife, Lisa.
Precariously perched on the banks of the Finley where the river runs through it every so often, its mystique remains a strong link to Ozark's history.
There's more legends to talk about, but now Ozark residents and leaders are looking forward to a renewed prosperity that will breathe new life into the downtown square. The county's population outgrew the handsome three-storied courthouse and in January of 2002, an $8-million dollar justice center opened its door.
The building on the south side of the square includes a 96-bed jail, three courtrooms, prosecutor's office, sheriff's offices, 911 dispatch and emergency management. Its architecture reflects the historic quality of the downtown square and keeps a steady flow of foot traffic in the downtown area.
The Ozark Square will soon benefit from a $300,000-matching grant from the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
"I see it booming with good things and still maintaining the quality of life of small town USA," Mayor DOnna McQuay said. "I hope to see downtown looking like a Norman Rockwell painting."
Ozark Easy Living Community Guide 2003 pgs. 33-35
