Lake of the Ozarks Lodging
Some may want to get lodging at the Lake of the Ozarks as they may want a place to stay. Some may want to see the views and landscapes of the region or to use the lake for relaxation perhaps fishing or boating. Some may want to see the scenic views and culture of the region. Some may want lodging that has good prices and good accommodation. Some may want lodging that has good access to culture, scenery and to the sports and to entertainment. Some may want luxury lodging or cheap lodging.
lake of the ozarks lodging
The Lake of the Ozarks is a large man made reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Extents of three smaller tributaries to the Osage, the Niangua River, Grandglaize Creek, and Gravois Creek, are included in the impoundment.
During the process of land acquisition for the lake during the 1920s, 17,500 acres of land along the Grand Glaize Arm of the lake was set aside for a national park. In 1946, this land was acquired by the State of Missouri for Lake of the Ozarks State Park, the largest State Park in Missouri.
Towns and communities in the area include Osage Beach, Lake Ozark, Camdenton, Gravois Mills, Sunrise Beach , Versailles, Eldon, Warsaw, and Hurricane Deck.
A hydro-electric power plant on the Osage River was first pursued by Kansas City developer Ralph Street in 1912. Street put together the initial funding and began building roads, railroads and infrastructure necessary to begin construction of the dam, with a plan to impound a much smaller lake. In the mid-1920s, Street’s funding dried up and he abandoned the effort.
The lake was created by the construction of the 2,543-foot long Bagnell Dam by Union Electric Company of St. Louis, Missouri. The principal engineering firm was Stone and Webster. Construction began August 6, 1929, and was completed in April 1931. The dam is operated and maintained by AmerenUE, the successor of Union Electric, under the authority of a permit issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Lake of the Ozarks measures more than 90 miles in length and has several tributaries supplying it. In total, it has over 1,100 miles of shoreline in four different Missouri counties. The massive body of water backed up behind Bagnell Dam is the largest manmade lake in the Midwestern United States.
During construction the lake was referred to as Osage Reservoir or Lake Osage. The Missouri General Assembly officially named it Lake Benton after the former Senator Thomas Hart Benton. None of the names took as it was popularly referred to by its location in the Ozarks. The electric generating station, however, is still referred to by the utility company as the "Osage Hydroelectric Plant."
At the time of construction it was one of the largest man-made lakes in the world and the largest in the United States. Though built to provide hydroelectric power for customers of Union Electric, the lake quickly became a significant tourist destination for the Midwest. There are over 70,000 homes existing along the lake, many of which are vacation homes. Spectacular scenery characteristic of the Ozarks has also helped to transform the lake into a major resort area. Often more than 3 million people visit the lake annually.
The Lake of the Ozarks is unique in the fact that it is the largest man-made, non-flood control lake in the United States. The lake rarely varies in surface elevation by more than 5 feet, with normal pool elevation of 660.0 feet above mean sea level. Unlike many flood control lakes constructed by the Corps of Engineers, most of the shoreline on the Lake of the Ozarks is privately owned, and the relatively stable surface elevation has created ideal conditions for private development within a few feet of the shoreline.
Party Cove is the popular name given for Anderson Cove, a cove in Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri that according to the New York Times is the oldest established permanent floating bacchanal in the country.
Various places in the lake have received the name since the 1960s but the informal event has been pushed out by private owners until since 1996 when it moved to Anderson Hollow Cove within the confines of Lake of the Ozarks State Park at the 4 mile marker of the Grand Glaize Arm of the lakes a mile south of the Grand Glaize Bridge.
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