A snapshot of Bella Vista in the Roaring Twenties

Back in the Roaring Twenties, Bella Vista was a happening place.

A postcard from the 1920s shows what the Lake Bella Vista resort looked liked back then, looking east across the lake dam.

Up on the hill, on the east side of the lake, were the lodges that the Linebarger Brothers built in the late 1910s to house visitors to the resort. A large bathhouse stood down below, at the northeast corner of the lake, with a boardwalk leading out from it across the lake.

The bathhouse burned down in 1930 from an accidental fire. It was replaced by a smaller building in 1931, which they called the Dance Pavilion. For more information about the early Bella Vista years, visit the Bella Vista Historical Museum at the corner of U.S. Highway 71 and Kingsland Road, next door to the American Legion. Admission is free. The museum is open from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.