There is one Camdenton in the world.
In 1930, the old Camden County seat of Linn Creek was running out of time. Bagnell Dam was going up, and much of the town would soon be underwater.
Buildings were torn down or moved to higher ground. Around 3,000 graves throughout the lake basin were dug up and relocated before the water rose. Some Linn Creek families moved farther up the valley. Others scattered into the hills.
So the community decided to build something entirely new.
Local businessmen Clint Webb and Jim Banner joined Springfield brothers John T. and William Woodruff with a plan: build a brand-new county seat about five miles away, right where two major highways, 54 and 5, were set to cross.
They bought the land. They drilled a 400-foot well. And when it came time to convince people to bet on a town that didn’t exist yet, they threw a free barbecue for the entire county with three pits going and a 30-piece band.
Their flyer made the pitch in one sentence: “We invite YOU to be one of us.”
The town still needed a name. John T. Woodruff chose Camdenton, derived from Camden County, and checked first to make sure no other town in the country had it. Almost a century later, it’s still the only one.
But a name and a barbecue didn’t make it a county seat. The people had to choose it.
On November 4, 1930, they did. Even a majority of voters in Old Linn Creek voted to move their own county seat to a town that had just been born.
Then they built it.
The courthouse went in the center, right where the highways crossed. The streets ran out from it like spokes on a wagon wheel.
Look at Camdenton from above today. Nearly a century later, the wheel is still there.
In the Ozarks, this is what community looks like.
Photo credits:
1940/41 street-level photo by Gerald Massie, via Love My OZARKS (J.L. Anderson)
Aerial parade photo courtesy of the Camden County Museum of Missouri, via Vintage Lake of the Ozarks
Original Camdenton flyer and aerial postcard courtesy of Renée Kingston, City Clerk, City of Camdenton
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- The junction of Highways 54 and 5, right in the heart of Camdenton, Missouri, circa 1940-41. This exact crossroads is why the town exists at all. Photo by Gerald Massie, courtesy of Love My Ozarks (J.L. Anderson).
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- Camdenton, Missouri, from above, decades ago. A hundred years ago, this town didn’t exist. Then two Camden County men decided to build it. Courtesy of the Camden County Museum of Missouri, via Vintage Lake of the Ozarks.
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- Look closely. The streets of Camdenton run out from the center like spokes on a wagon wheel, on purpose, by design, since 1930. Courtesy of Renée Kingston, City Clerk, City of Camdenton.
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- The original pitch that built a town. “We invite YOU to be one of us.” Courtesy of Renée Kingston, City Clerk, City of Camdenton.
This is the Ozarks
Every place carries a story. This is the Ozarks about the history, character, and landscape of the Missouri Ozarks, the towns, the roads, and the people that shaped who we are and why it still matters.
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