Old Bella Vista Then and Now

Courtesy BV Historical Museum The Linebargers' built this summer cottage for R.S. Randerson. The cottage was later featured on this postcard for him in 1921.
Courtesy BV Historical Museum The Linebargers' built this summer cottage for R.S. Randerson. The cottage was later featured on this postcard for him in 1921.

R.S. Randerson asked the Linebargers to build this summer cottage, which was later featured on an old postcard for him in 1921 for $900. He paid $100 down on April 19, 1921, and made $20/month payments, with his deed being issued on Aug. 26, 1924.

The Linebargers sought out wealthy men to buy land lots and have cottages built at the Bella Vista Summer Resort, and Randerson was evidently one of them. His home address at the time was 603 Colcord Building, Oklahoma City, which was a luxury hotel built in 1909 with 14 floors.

The now vacant cottage, nearly 100 years old, still stands today across the highway from Lake Bella Vista at the south end of the Highway Welcome Center. The cottages that stood on either side of it are now gone.

Community on 06/05/2019