More than 40 Years Ago

It may be our job but we at the Shell Knob Chamber love to talk about our community to anyone willing to listen. We really enjoy meeting people visiting us for the first time. It has been said repeatedly, once you visit Shell Knob you will come back. That is a fact! Before the Shell Knob Chamber existed, area resorts and businesses worked together to promote Shell Knob. I would like to share with you an excerpt from one of the guides they used to accomplish that goal. It is interesting to read their description of Shell Knob more than 40 years ago.

“… the Central Crossing area, heartland of the Ozarks, one of the most beautiful, scenically unspoiled regions remaining in the United States. Browse through this book and the delights of this centrally located area will unfold. It is a vacation spot without peer; a retirement paradise; a sports and recreation dream come true. There is something for everyone in the Central Crossing area.

Nestled in the southwest corner of Missouri, surrounded by rolling hills and peaceful valley, the region boast some of the finest water in the country – Table Rock Lake. A decade ago, the area was known primarily to fishermen and sportsmen. The creation of Table Rock Lake, a flood

control project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, opened the regionto countless thousands of others – family vacationer, campers, nature explorers, and more and more fishermen and hunters. The Engineers, in joining the Kings, James and White Rivers to create a water reservoir, brought into being a superb lake, with 800 miles of shoreline, numerous sheltered coves and arms, and clear, unpolluted water ideal for sports and fishing. This project, and the completion of the Central Crossing bridge in 1960, caused the region to come into its own as an unparalleled vacation paradise. Through the years, access roads, notably Missouri Highway 39, have been improved, making travel easier.

The visitor to the Central Crossing area will find an outstanding recreational development. Fine resorts, offering clean, modern accommodations and services for fishermen and sports enthusiasts, await the visitor. They will find entertainment, good restaurants, and above all, a chance to relax and restore themselves amid the beauties of nature. They will also find friendliness and welcome the kind of “come right in and set right down” hospitality that have made the Ozarks famed throughout the worlds. They will see an area that is growing and, on the move, yet one that still retains the cham and unhurried atmosphere of yesteryear. They will fall quickly under the spell of the Central Crossing Area.

.AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Over 40 years later and Shell Knob still fits that description. Our area is timeless, and our businesses and people are priceless. Come visit us, who knows you may decide to stay!