Toots and Jack Stotler operated this thriving business from 1933 until selling to Buford and Anna May Foster in 1945. The Fosters changed the name to Night Hawk Café. A stunning large neon sign with a flying night hawk whose neon wings flapped hung over the sidewalk. The parents of Leland Payton, senior author of […]
The Weaver Brothers and Elviry became headliners after World War I, and performed with top vaudeville names like Al Jolson, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jack Benny and Beatrice Lillie. Elviry’s comic catchphrase was, “If I had my druthers, I druther…” They starred in movies for Republic Pictures in the 1930s and ‘40s. Elviry (June […]
The fanciful Indian name of the spring below the bluff is attributed to Col. R. G. Scott who came from Iowa to the Ozarks in the 1890s and partnered with R. D. Kelly to acquire the land around Gunter Spring. Col. Scott published the first article extolling Ha Ha Tonka’s natural wonders in an 1898 […]
Throughout the United States are scenic spots where subterranean waters surface. Attaching “mystic” to the place name is not uncommon and evokes their poetic charm. Eureka Springs, Arkansas has two. This detailed cabinet photograph, circa 1900, by the local photographic firm, shows one of the springs still in its natural state. The second spring, Mystic […]
This circa 1910 unsent, real photo postcard shows a large family camping out in the woods. We assume it’s a family but the subjects are unidentified so no guarantee. Not that their scribbled title isn’t descriptive, but we wished we knew their names and where they came from. Sadly, we know nothing about the family, […]
EUREKA SPRINGS PROMISED ITS SPRINGS HAD HEALING PROPERTIES No rusticated place this. Improbably built into the side of some of the Ozarks’ steepest real estate is an authentic Victorian village. One hundred years ago, nattily attired ladies and gentlemen strolled miles of winding paths along hand-cut stone wall, pausing to sip the waters of the […]
Sportsmen and vacationers were not the only groups invited to come and see the Ozarks. The Frisco Line’s full-page ad in a 1912 Washington, DC, Star Sunday Magazine asked, “why don’t you take your family to live in the beautiful Ozarks? A small farm in the Ozarks is the opportunity you need. Think what a […]
We’ve seen “Shorty” identified in one photo as the tall bass player, but in another shot the same gent is holding a fiddle. Calling tall folks “Shorty” wasn’t uncommon and was thought amusing. In his Oct. 28, 1965, obituary in the Tri-County News (Sullivan Missouri), “Shorty” is identified as Clifford Wilkinson. In addition to heading […]
Keith McCanse’s Scotch-Irish family settled in the Ozarks in the 1840s. His father, George, co-founded a bank and was a true believer in Republican politics. He took his son numerous times on the legendary Galena-to-Branson float trip. After a stint as a stockbroker in Kansas City, Keith moved his family to Taney County due to […]
Caves have been inhabited by humans and served as the stage for mythological tales in most cultures, past and present. Bluff Dwellers Cave near Noel, Missouri provided shelter for Native Americans but not the club-bearing Neanderthal pictured in this roadside ad. Wikipedia’s entry for Bluff Dwellers’ Cave says it was discovered by C. Arthur Browning […]