Fleming’s Riverside Farm Inn, circa 1910. [Courtesy of Alan Banks]

Fleming’s Riverside Inn overlooking Elk River in 

Westport Landing by pioneer and watercolor artist W. H. Jackson. [William Henry Jackson, Scotts Bluff National Monument, SCBL 19]

Later in life William Gilliss would be a successful trader, real estate speculator, and…

The House of Lords, whose sign is visible on the left, was part of the James H. Worth block in downtown Joplin. [Courtesy of Kimberly Harper]

The House of Lords was a three-story brick building in Joplin that housed a saloon and restaurant, gaming…

This steamboat once graced northern Indian Creek in McDonald County, Missouri. [Courtesy of Ric Akehurst]

Indian Springs was a resort town in

Herman Jaeger. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Southwest Missouri Region Photograph Collection, P1110]

Herman Jaeger was born in Brugg, Switzerland, on March 23, 1844, the sixth of seven…

Three men fishing on an Ozarks river; one stands in a johnboat named Hildalgo. [State Historical Society of Missouri, State of Missouri Collection, P0018]

Sportsmen tourists in flat-bottom boats that became known as “johnboats” are the parents of Ozarks commercial…

Jolly Mill circa 2022. [Photo by Ross Brown]

Jolly Mill, a grist mill and whiskey distillery, was built in the late 1840s on Capps Creek in…

Nathaniel N. Kinney. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Rolla Research Center, William L. Vandeventer Papers (R1428)]

Nathaniel “Nat” N. Kinney has a popular image as a romantic, violent, swashbuckling…

Emma R. Knell, circa 1926. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Knell Family Photographs Collection, P0708-015517]

Emma R. Knell, a businesswoman and politician, was born in Moline, Illinois, on October 21…

The Figure 8 roller coaster at Lakeside Park, added in 1907, was a “huge reversing spiral” in which cars rushed down a half-mile curving track with “three figure eights in a descent of 50 feet.” [Courtesy of the Joplin Historical & Mineral Museum]

 “Once the most important and popular play place of the Tri-State district,” Lakeside Park in Jasper…