See The Ozarks – Page 5 – Lens & Pen Press

Branson’s College of the Ozarks had its beginnings in Forsythe

May 062020

Real photo postcard of some faculty of the School of the Ozarks on a 1909 outing at Swan Creek.

Along with Harold Bell Wright’s moralistic Shepherd of the Hills influence, a component of the region’s image has been the School of the Ozarks, now called College of the Ozarks (“Hard Work U.”). It began as an effort by the Presbyterian Church to expand the limited educational opportunities for Ozark children in the early 1900s. A $20,000 brick building was built on a hill overlooking Swan Creek. A fire destroyed it in 1915. The school used the facilities of the Forsyth Public School for a time until a campus was started at Point Lookout in Hollister where the College is today.

The Christian ethical influence of Harold Bell Wright and College of the Ozarks is in sharp contrast with the more secular origins of another Ozark tourist draw, Lake of the Ozarks. Two of the three men most influential in the creation of Bagnell Dam and the Lake did time in federal penitentiaries.

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Harold Bell Wright’s erstwhile melodrama jump-starts Ozark tourism

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Apr 082020

Real photo postcard circa 1910 by G. E. Hall. Captioned on front, “At the Deer Lick, 33 Hall Photo Co.” Deer Lick is a location in the novel, The Shepherd of the Hills.

Printed on back of this very early Hall postcard is “The Shepherd of the Hills series,” Made by G. E. Hall, Notch, Mo.” At that time the entire region from Galena to Branson and surrounding hills and river bottoms of Taney and Stone counties was known as the Shepherd of the Hills Country.

In his just-published Volume 2, A History of the Ozarks, The Conflicted Ozarks, Brooks Blevins gives credit to Harold Bell Wright’s 1907 novel, The Shepherd of the Hills, for fixing an image of the Ozarks as a homeland of dramatically primitive but appealing Americans. Blevins attended a performance of the Shepherd of the Hills outdoor theater near Branson in 2013: “It wasn’t Chekov; no one goes to the ‘Shepherd of the Hills’ thinking it’s going to be. But it was entertaining—and melodramatic, syrupy, platitudinous, and predictable, just like the beloved novel on which it as based.” Blevins goes on to point out some real history about the truly dramatic night-riding Baldknobbers is worked into the sentimental storyline.

Locals began representing themselves as the real characters in Wright’s book. Photographic images of them at the landmarks where the novel took place helped perpetuate the idea the region was populated with somewhat backward but appealing characters, whose lives were uncommonly dramatic.

Increased tourism justified mass-produced postcards

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Mar 112020

Powersite Dam, 1920s postcard. White River Art Station.

Real photo postcards were produced one at a time, usually by the photographer himself, which made them ideal for small regional markets; it also means they are less common today on the collector’s market. As Ozark tourism grew, entrepreneurs turned to producing printed postcards, which could be printed in large runs. After A.K. Bishop, an early producer of real photo postcards, died in 1925, his widow, Mrs. Grace Bishop, continued in the picture-postcard business. Her stock and trade were mechanically reproduced postcards. A photograph was hand-colored then reproduced as a lithograph to be printed by the thousands. Mrs. Bishop operated a store in Branson, the White River Art Station, and labeled her postcards with that name.

When a large flood inundated Branson in 1927 an article in the Stone County News Oracle (April 27), Galena, gave an indication of the scale of the printed postcard business. The article noted she had not suffered as much damage: “Possibly one who suffered the least in the form of ruined stock was Mrs. Grace Bishop of the White River Art Station.” She had placed her stock on high shelves and was able to enter the studio in a rowboat and retrieve her stock: “Mrs. Bishop says she has a hundred thousand picture cards on hand and two hundred thousand ordered. She is ready for summer any day she wants to come.”

An abundance of White River Art Station printed postcards are for sale on eBay and through postcard dealers throughout America for a few dollars. George Hall’s real photo postcards, however, are rarely for sale and can bring $60 to $200.

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