Miller County

Lake of the Ozarks State Park, the largest in Missouri, began as a federal experiment in 1934. The National Park Service set up 46 Recreational Demonstration Areas across the country to turn worn-out farmland into public parks, three of them in Missouri, and this was the state's largest. Three Civilian Conservation Corps camps built its group camps, roads, beach and offices, and in 1946 the federal government gave all such areas to the state parks. The CCC work along Highway 134, 17 buildings and 80 structures from 1934 to 1942, has been on the National Register since 1985.

What the plaque says

Miller County Here in Missouri's central Ozarks, Miller County was organized 1837, and named for Mo. Gov. John Miller. In territory ceded by Osage (French pronunciation for Wazhazhe Indians) 1808, the county was first settled 1807, by William West. Early pioneers were from Ky., Tenn., and Va. Two major Indian trails ran through the county. Tuscumbia, the county seat, was laid out 1837, and named for Tuscumbia (Chickasaw for Warrior Who Kills), Ala. The town site, given by J. B. and J. P. Harrison, had been an Indian trading camp. On scenic Osage River bluffs, below Bagnell Dam, the town was once a noted Osage River port and a number of steamboats were built there. In the Civil War, minor skirmishes and guerrilla raids halted county growth. From the 1870's to the early 1900's, lead mining, first begun in 1850's, was carried on and the vast timber resources were harvested. In 1882, a branch of the Mo. Pac. R. R. was built to Bagnell, then a leading railroad tie shipping point. In 1903, today's Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was built through northern Miller County. (See other side) Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1961 Miller County (Continued from other side) Miller County, through which flows the Osage River, is a resort, farm, and lumber area. Frenchman Charles Du Tisne, on an exploring trip in 1719, crossed the county south of the Osage, and in 1806, Zebulon M. Pike's southwest expedition camped along the river. Bagnell Dam, forming Lake of the Ozarks, was built on the Osage in the county by Union Electric Co. of Mo., 1929-31. Iberia, south of the Osage, laid out 1860, was the home of Iberia (Congregational) Academy, later a junior college, 1890-1951, established by G. Byron and Mable (White) Smith. Other county towns include Ulman, settled in 1840's; Brumley and St. Elizabeth, founded in 1870's; Olean and Eldon, resort town and railroad center, 1882; Etterville and Kaiser, early 1900's; Lake Ozark, 1932. Early schools were Miller County Institute at Spring Garden, 1870; Miller Co. Academy at Aurora Springs, 1881; Eldon Academy, 1886. Of interest are Bagnell Dam; Lake of the Ozarks State Park in Miller and Camden counties, founded 1935; Aurora Springs, noted spa of late 1800's, and Stark Caverns, both near Eldon; and Wilson's Cave near Iberia. Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1961

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ozark Caverns (Lake of the Ozarks State Park) — 15 mi
  A guided half-mile walk through a drained Ozark conduit in Lake of the Ozarks State Park, with a shower that falls from solid rock, old claw marks and blind grotto salamanders.
• Ha Ha Tonka State Park — 25 mi
  Collapsed caverns laid open above the Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks: a natural bridge, a sinkhole amphitheater, a spring in a gorge and the burned stone shell of a Kansas City businessman's castle.
• Lincoln University and the Soldiers' Memorial — 27 mi
  The school that Black soldiers of the 62nd and 65th U.S. Colored Infantry paid for out of army wages in 1866, now a land-grant university on its Jefferson City hill.
• Missouri State Capitol — 28 mi
  The 1917 capitol on the Jefferson City bluff, built after lightning burned its predecessor, with the State Museum downstairs and Thomas Hart Benton's mural of Missouri in the House Lounge.

More markers nearby

• Bagnell Dam — 9.3 mi
• Morgan County — 24 mi
• Jefferson City — 28 mi