History of Bull Shoals: A Town Built by a Dam

The Original Settlement: Newton Flat

Before the modern city of Bull Shoals existed, the area was known as the Newton Flat settlement. The bottom lands and river areas were primarily owned by the Johnson Family. The land changed hands over the years, often bought for taxes, until the mid-1940s when it was owned by Gus McCracken of Flippin and Roy Johnson of Mountain Home. The future of this small settlement was changed forever by the U.S. Army Engineers' plans for the White River.

The Vision of C.S. Woods, Sr.

The town's development is inextricably linked to the construction of the Bull Shoals Dam. Real estate developer Charles S. Woods Sr., a man known for founding communities in Texas and Georgia, saw immense potential in the area. With the government's plan to build a massive flood-control and power-generating concrete dam at the site, Woods recognized the opportunity for a new resort and retirement community.

• Acquisition: Around 1945–1946, Woods, Sr., along with his son Charles Jr., bought over 1,000 acres of land from seventeen farmers in the Newton Flat area.

• The Blueprint: Woods and his son cleared brush for future streets and famously sketched the town's original street plan on the back of a brown paper bag.

• Official Start: On August 14, 1946, a plat was filed in the Marion County Courthouse for the new town of Bull Shoals, marking its first official document—even before the dam's groundbreaking.

Woods' advertising slogan was "A New Town Which Has a Great Future." To attract buyers, he planted over 10,000 tulips and daffodils, a tradition whose descendants can still be seen throughout the town today.

The Dam That Built a City

The Bull Shoals Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the White River, constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers primarily to address the frequent, devastating floods that plagued the river in the early 20th century.

Early Community & Incorporation

The community grew quickly around the dam's development.

• Incorporation: Bull Shoals was officially incorporated as a town on November 13, 1953, adopting a mayoral form of government. It later gained city status in 1972.

• Infrastructure: An early focus of C.S. Woods, Sr.'s lobbying efforts was getting Highway 178 built across the dam, connecting Bull Shoals to what is now Lakeview. He also funded the paving of several miles of highway and was instrumental in bringing the first streetlights and telephone service to the area (via the business that would become NATCO).

• First Businesses: Many of the businesses that define the area today have their roots in this early era. Everett and Bobbie Crow established the Crow-Barnes Resort (now Bel'Arco Resort) in 1952, the first successful resort in town.

Local Attractions: Businessmen like Roy Danuser established major tourist attractions, including the Historic Bull Shoals Caverns and Mountain Village 1890 (an authentic collection of historic Ozark buildings brought to the site).

• Retirement Destination: In the 1960s and 1970s, as the beauty of the area and the fully formed lake gained national attention, Bull Shoals grew as a retirement destination, attracting many residents from northern areas, leading locals to affectionately refer to it as "Little Chicago."