In celebration of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the opening by the Linebarger Brothers of the Bella Vista Summer Resort on June 20, 1917, the following article is reprinted from a Bentonville newspaper of early 1926.

The public is invited to hear Carole Linebarger Harter speak at the Bella Vista Historical Museum at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 18, about her grandfather and his brothers' efforts to get the resort up and running. The museum is located at the corner of U.S. Highway 71 and Kingsland Road, next door to the American Legion. No admission charge.

THE MAKERSOF BELLA VISTA

The Story of Three Brothers and Their Unbounded Faithin the Ozarks

A cool crisp day of early fall last year was heralding the approach of Ozark autumn; the changing trees and the red sunset with the haze across the sky had made Indian summer for Bella Vista a riot of golden brown. Only a Sargent* could have caught that Ozark brown; and not even a Sargent could put that Ozark Indian summer on canvas.

F.W. Linebarger was reminiscing -- about a greater Bella Vista, and reviving old delectable memories of her glorious past.

"Today represents only a foundation of what it will be," he said. "we will dedicate the remainder of our lives to its development."

All the romance of the winning of the West is in that story of how Bella Vista came to be; and all the glamour of Maeterlinck** is in the tale of how the Linebargers made it what it is today.

They believed that such a project as Bella Vista is today was possible, and they had the strength of their convictions, daring them to succeed. Their story is the story of three who dared to blaze a trail.

Twenty-six years ago, F.W., C.C., and C.A. Linebarger left their home in Indiana and came to Bentonville with their mother, in the hope that the invigorating Ozark climate would prove beneficial to her ill health. A spot of particular fascination to them was Cave Springs***, which in later years they were destined to create in Bella Vista, the largest resort in the Ozarks.

The aesthetic charm and natural beauty of the place never left them -- they never forgot the cool caves and scintillating springs.

Years passed. The Linebargers drifted into Dallas and established themselves in the general real estate business. One day in the fall of 1916 a Mr. Baker called at the Linebarger office. As if by some fate of circumstance, Mr. Baker owned the Big Springs and part of Big Springs valley, which had been in the Linebargers' dreams for years. The idea of a resort in Sugar Creek valley and the adjacent bluffs and mountains was an original idea with Mr. Baker, but he did not carry out his plans.

It took very little of Mr. Baker's effort to interest the Linebargers -- the delightful memories of the hills their mother loved so well still persisted. They were all enthusiasm.

They saw a lake in beautiful Sugar Creek valley, with rustic cottages lining the mountainsides, and thousands of vacationers enjoying what they had first enjoyed years before. Early in 1917 they began to make Bella Vista an actuality. They came to Bentonville and purchased from Mr. Baker a small portion of the present Bella Vista property.

"The road to Bella Vista was only a country trail then. There were two streams which were almost impossible to ford. An automobile could scarcely travel the road as it was then," F.W. Linebarger once remarked in relating the founding of Bella Vista as he had known it.

The material beginning of Bella Vista was early in the spring of the same year. The lake, where once a corn field had been, was enlarged and a permanent dam constructed.

A tiny pavilion was built where the present one now stands. A small dining lodge, two sleeping houses and the Lodge were erected, and each have been enlarged and changed to meet increasing demands.

"It wasn't until that fall that Bella Vista was platted and surveyed," said C.C. Linebarger. "The original survey included only land on the east side of the lake."

Each year, however, has been an important milestone in Bella Vista's progress. Each year she has become larger in every respect. In 1918 the Linebargers began their land acquisitions with the purchase of the Dr. McCannon farm on the (west) side of the lake. This made possible the construction of the golf course which was begun in 1920 and improved every year. "There weren't roads of any description on any of the seven mountains when we came up here," F.W. Linebarger once remarked. "This certainly is a contrast to the twelve miles of highway constructed since 1917. Of course, the main highway was built by the county to meet another highway and the Bella Vista Drive was mapped soon afterwards."

Sunset and Suits-Us Mountains were acquired in 1920 from Lindsey and Leib, according to C.A. Linebarger. In 1921 the Wilcox interests, located north and west of Bella Vista, were purchased. Louisiana Mountain was added to the Bella Vista estate in 1922, and was formerly known as the Hood farm. Certain tracts of land situated south and west of the main part of Bella Vista, and known as the Rakes' farms, were bought in 1923; and the most recent acquisition was a plot purchased two years ago from J.C. Knott on which to build the Plunge.

During the first few years of Bella Vista's existence, electricity for cliff dwellers was supplied by a tiny power plant located at the dam and ran by water power. The plant served very well during those early days, but the passing years brought expansion and the Linebargers were forced to have current brought from Bentonville. This necessitated the construction of five miles of electric wiring, supplying each cottage with electricity.

The various parts of Bella Vista have been named slowly. North and Center Mountains are named for their geographical locations, and Sunset Mountain and Inspiration Point both reflect what their names suggest. Louisiana Mountain is named for the large number of cliff dwellers from the bayou state located there. The history of Suits-Us Mountain is the history of S.C. Linebarger, father of the three owners of Bella Vista. He built a cottage at the foot of the mountain and called it "Suits-Us" -- and the name stuck to the entire mountain. Mount Pisgah was named by its former owner, Mr. A. McNeill, because he liked to compare the view from the top with the Biblical Mt. Pisgah from where Moses saw the promised land.

This (upcoming season) is the tenth year of Bella Vista, and the three Linebargers have never discovered a stopping place yet and they are not at all trying to. Each season heralds many new valuable improvements....the 1926 season will be a gala year. Plans already definite would alone fill at least three issues of this paper.

"We cannot begin to enumerate all the splendid plans that we are going to perfect before next season," said C.C. Linebarger. "Improvements will be made all over Bella Vista. We intend to double our sales force -- and further, to open up new sales territory hitherto untouched."

"One characteristic of Ozark resorts -- and of all resorts, in fact," said C.A. Linebarger, "is that each maintains its own individuality. We have tried to create in Bella Vista a playground, a pleasure spot for recreation and play. That has been our goal -- to provide every possible form of amusement that we can think of for our guests."

But one could go on and on with that story -- as vitally human as anything Tolstoi**** has every done. Each detail further reveals how a great success sprang from an idea with faith to go with it.

And behind it all lies a story as old and human as time itself -- that age-old romance of faith and inspiration.

"And whatever importance Bella Vista is, we owe it all to our father, S.C. Linebarger -- because he has been our inspiration all the way through," said C.A. Linebarger. "He has been the inspiration for Bella Vista -- which could never have been built without his honest scruples."

*John Singer Sargent was an Italian painter, 1856-1925.

** Maurice Maeterlinck was a Belgian playwright, poet and essayist, 1862-1949.

***The area where Bella Vista was developed had been called Cave Springs earlier, prior to the incorporation of the City of Cave Springs in western Benton County in 1910.

**** Leo Tolstoi (also spelled Tolstoy) was a Russian author, 1828-1910, often called one of the world's greatest novelists.