Lake of the Ozarks / Osage Region
Bagnell Dam sits in Miller County, and that is where the lake begins
Lake of the Ozarks is a built reservoir, and the dam that created it stands on the Miller County side, which ties the county's identity and its eastern lake towns directly to the dam's history and the Osage River below it
Bagnell Dam, the structure that impounded the Osage River to create Lake of the Ozarks, is on the eastern end of the lake in the Miller County area, with the city of Lake Ozark grown up alongside the historic dam strip. The dam was built in the early 1930s for hydropower, and the reservoir behind it reshaped the region into a tourism and second-home economy. Below the dam the Osage continues as a river toward the Missouri. For Miller County this is more than scenery: the eastern lake towns, the seasonal crowds, and the shoreline rules all trace back to the dam. Treat construction dates and original-operator details as items to confirm against an official history before stating them as fact.
References
Where this fits: this note belongs to Miller County. See every local note for the county on its page.