Times Past
This photo of a vehicle crossing the Little North Fork of the White River at Hammond was taken during the winter of 1946-47 by the late Orval Jernigan, a sales representative for the Milligan Grocery Co. Jernigan took the photos of the stores he serviced throughout Ozark, Douglas and Taney counties. He typed a description on the bottom of each photo and mounted them into a photo album that is now owned by Christy Voliva of Ava. The late Kenneth Brown scanned the photos into digital format, and Ms. Voliva agreed they could be shared with the Ozark County Historium. Jernigan noted on this photo that it was taken while he was standing on the footbridge that spanned the river there.
Ozark County News
July 25, 1889
J. A. Bingaman narrowly escaped being drowned last Thursday in Big North Fork. In crossing the river, which was very deep, his horse fell down and after recovering his feet fell again and rolled on his side, throwing Mr. Bingaman into the water, which was so deep and...
This undated photo was taken by M. C. Stephens looking west at the “steel bridge” that was completed over the North Fork of the White River (now Lake Norfork) in Tecumseh in 1924 at a cost of $50,063, according to “A History of Ozark County 1841-1991.” The people in the photo are unknown, but they had apparently gathered to be photographed at the newly completed bridge that was considered a modern marvel at the time. The bridge, 18 feet wide, continued in service until it was replaced in 1988 by the current 38-foot-wide bridge, which was built at a cost of $2.1 million (including removal of the old bridge). This photo is one of many historical images shared on the Dora School Library’s Facebook page.
Ozark County News
July 10, 1890
Mrs. Jacob Suter of Big North Fork died June 30 with consumption. She leaves a husband and several children together with many friends to mourn her loss. We beg to tender them our heartfelt sympathy.
Ozark County Times
July 14, 1911
Rockbridge – We made a mistake...
Until it was demolished in the 1980s, this three-story house, built in 1906 by Tesley Luna, stood at the top of what is now Harlin Drive near the first Gainesville water tower. Luna and his wife, Anna Arnold Luna, sold the house to Tesley’s brother, Everett Luna, who later sold it to their sister, Agnes, and her husband, Dr. Herbert “Doc” Pace, grandparents of former Ozark County Sheriff Raymond Pace. In later years, it was known as the Wolverton house. It’s believed those standing on the lower-level porch are, from left, Hazel Luna (Blair) with her mother Sarah Patrick Luna, an unknown child she’s holding on the railing, and Anna Luna and her daughter Virginia. The person standing on the second-floor porch is unknown. The photo is from an album owned and shared by family descendants Fedra Williams Baker and Beverly Williams Schweppe.
Ozark County News
July 7, 1883
Matt Lamberson is gathering up a drove of cattle. He is lotting them at Mr. Meffords and will drive them north when he has sufficient number.
Ad. – LOOK OUT! Three wagons loaded down to the “guards” with fresh goods are on their way from Springfield and will arrive...
This article was reprinted from the July 5, 1902, edition of the Bakersfield Boomerang. ---
Lots of illegitimate whiskey was circulated on the Fourth at Bakersfield, but only served to make the crowd good humored.
The “Glorious Fourth” has come and gone. Two thousand people thoroughly enjoyed...
Loggers work in the timber in this photo near the community of Biggs, which was located just southwest of where Indian Creek meets the North Fork of the White River north of Twin Bridges, just over the Ozark County line in Douglas County. The undated photo is from the collection of the late Noble “Skeez” Barker and was shared by his grandson, David Barker, with the Dora Historian Facebook page curated by Mary Collins. Noble’s note on the back of the photo indicates the machine pulling the double load of logs is a 20 hp Case steam tractor, circa 1912. The men in the photo are George Tooley, Alvis Pierce, Henry Slate, Charley Briggs and Amos Virgil Barker. The Biggs post office was named for lumber mill operator Monroe Biggs and was open from 1894 to 1920.
Ozark County News
July 4, 1889
The Fourth of July should be appropriately celebrated in order to promulgate and keep alive the patriotism and love of Liberty which prompted our forefathers to make out and sign the Declaration of Independence, and then sacrifice their lives and fortunes in defense...
Reprinted from the June 16, 1905, edition of the Ozark County Times -
Since the Hon. John T. Moore, our Circuit Judge, has ordered the Sheriff to repair our old court house by adding to it a 12-foot front, build a new fence around the court house, and repair it in general, which will cost the...
These photos show two of the three Ozark County Courthouses that have stood on the Gainesville square since the first one (left) was completed in 1874 at a cost of $1,825.28. The small block building with a tin roof was added in the early 1900s to house and protect the county records. When the courthouse burned in 1937, only the records that had been put in the records building were saved. A bandstand stood just beyond the records building. The Times Past items below give a glimpse of how some county residents advocated unsuccessfully for a new courthouse for nearly 40 years before the fire. After the loss of the first courthouse, the county bought and moved into the Christian Church building on the east side of the square. (A small portion of the church can be seen on the left edge of the photo.) It was available because the congregation was moving. In 1937, the former church building-turned-courthouse also burned, and county offices operated out of several rented quarters on the square until the current building (photo right) was completed in 1939. It cost $43,000 and was paid for by a county bond issue and a 55 percent matching grant from the Federal Works Project Administration. This photo of the building under construction is shared from the State Historical Society of Missouri.
Bakersfield News
June 24, 1905
The unpainted shack which now stands as an excuse for a Court house [ed’s note: built in 1874] is certainly a disgrace to Ozark County and an unpleasant index to the non-progressiveness of the people of the county. . . . A suitable stone Court house and Jail should be...
Above: This 1919 photo was taken at the family dinner when Fred Wright, standing, left, came home after the end of World War I. His family gathered in celebration of his homecoming but also mourned the loss of Fred’s twin brother, John, who had died of influenza in France. The dinner is believed to have been set in the Gaulding Cemetery. Fred, in uniform, stands at left beside his mother, Gertrude Wright. His father, John Wesley Wright, sits across the table, front right. Below: Thirty-seven years later, this photo of Fred Wright with his wife, Bonnie Gardner Wright, and their granddaughter Carol Cantwell was taken in September 1955 at their general store in Hammond. The Wrights were the last owners of the store, which closed a few years after this picture was taken. Both photos are from the collection of Janis Wright Cantwell and were shared by her relative Cinita Brown.
Ozark County News
May 30, 1895
More interest is being manifested in the Decoration than was previously anticipated. Before ten o’clock, the streets were thronged with people, and others continued to arrive until noon. At 2 o’clock all business was suspended, doors were closed and the throng, headed...
Barefoot school, 1901 (located between Longrun and Theodosia) This 1901 photo of the original Barefoot School, located between Longrun and Theodosia, was shared with the Ozark County Historium by Wilfred E. Wooldridge, M.D., for the Historium’s 2010 book Lard Buckets and Paper Pokes, which featured stories about Ozark County’s early one-room schools. Writing about the memories of her grandmother, former Barefoot School student Edith Peacock Edmond, Sally Lyons McAlear said the school got its name, not from its barefoot students (although in this photo, all visible feet except the teacher’s are bare), but from the fact that the log school had a dirt floor. The district, which closed in 1959, had two subsequent buildings with clapboard exterior and oak floor. It was officially renamed Oak Grove, but that name never stuck. In the photo: Back row, from left: teacher Ulysses Grant Tanneyhill, Arthur Peacock, Joe Willhoit, Vernon Duncan, Kelly Peacock, Kitty Blankenship, Clara Bruer, Bill Miller, Della Hicks, Clemmie Wilhoit, Stella Bruer and Della Welch. Second row (seated): Charlie Havens, George Worthington, Fred Miller, Earl Duncan, Roy Peacock, Bunt Havens, Harry Havens, Evert Hicks, Jasper Hicks, Pearlie Hicks, Bennie Welch, Vienna Havens, Nettie Miller, Edith Peacock (Edmonds), Ollie Welch, Dollie Worthington, Vic Bruer.
Ozark County News
May 15, 1890
The sad news reached here Tuesday that John Miller of Lick Creek was dead, having accidentally stuck a knife into his left breast on Monday evening. Mr. Miller was at his farm tending to some young cattle and had a small knife in his right hand when a calf kicked his...
The tent theater mentioned in the 1935 Times Past item below may have resembled this tent that housed the “Famous Talkie Tent Show” Forrest and Oveta Glass brought to Bakersfield’s Fourth of July celebration in 1939. The undated photo accompanied a story by Jim Cox in the July 1981 edition of the West Plains Gazette that described early moving-picture shows. The photo was first reprinted in the February 2019 edition of the Old Mill Run.
Ozark County News
May 3, 1883
The farmers of this county are falling out with cotton as a crop. They find there is better pay in raising corn and “small grain” and raising stock to feed it to. One experiment after another teaches that this county is better adapted to raising stock than anything...