Most of Lake Ozark was built recently: 0.6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listings are the Bagnell Dam and Osage Power Plant and the Union Electric Administration Building-Lakeside. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1934 on, and the census since 1970.
Founding year: the first Lake Ozark post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lake Ozark’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lake Ozark is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lake Ozark’s overall grade.
Missouri towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Missouri town has 2.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Lake Ozark’s 8.6 sits above most of its state (70% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C. The pre-1940 share (±0.6 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Lake Ozark’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
A post office called Lake Ozark has been in operation since 1932. The community took its name from the nearby Lake of the Ozarks.
Bagnell Dam was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
The segment of Bagnell Dam Boulevard from Horse Bend Parkway to the Bagnell Dam is named "Bagnell Dam Strip." There are two muffler mans named Injun Joe and another named Country Bumpkin. The latter was gone from 2013 until 2024. It suffered damage on the shoe part from vandalism a few weeks after returning.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Lake Ozark post office opened in 1932, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lake Ozark rank for history?
Lake Ozark is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Lake Ozark?
Two places: the Bagnell Dam and Osage Power Plant (listed 2008) and the Union Electric Administration Building-Lakeside (2011).
How old are the homes in Lake Ozark?
0.6% of Lake Ozark’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1993.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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