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Lake of the Ozarks, located approximately 180 miles from St. Louis, 170 miles from Kansas City, or 90 miles from Springfield, MO or 140 miles from Branson, MO. (Mileage estimated from Bagnell Dam.)

The Lake of the Ozarks is a large man-made reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Extents of three smaller tributaries to the Osage, the Niangua River, Grandglaize Creek, and Gravois Creek, are included in the impoundment. The lake has a surface area of 55,000 acres (223 km²), over 1,150 miles (1,850 km) of shoreline (1,850 km), and the main channel of the Osage Arm stretches 92 miles (148 km) from end to end (148 km). The total drainage area is over 14,000 square miles (36,000 km²).

The lake was created by the construction of the 2,543-foot (775 m) long (775 m) Bagnell Dam by Union Electric Company of St. Louis, Missouri. The principal engineering firm was Stone and Webster. Construction began August 6, 1929, and was completed in April 1931. The dam is operated and maintained by AmerenUE, the successor of Union Electric, under the authority of a permit issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Lake of the Ozarks measures more than 90 miles in length and has several tributaries supplying it. In total, it has over 1,100 miles of shoreline in four different Missouri counties. The massive body of water backed up behind Bagnell Dam is the largest manmade lake in the Midwestern United States and is one of the most popular vacation spots through the central portion of the United States.

Even though construction of Bagnell Dam began in august of 1929 and was completed in an amazing length of time in April of 1931, the concept of a hydro electric power plant on the Osage River was first introduced by a Kansas City developer as long ago as 1912. Ralph Street managed to put together the funding to construct a dam across the Osage River and began building roads, railroads and support structures necessary to begin construction of a dam that would impound a much smaller lake than what is presently known as Lake of the Ozarks. Sometime in the mid 1920’s, Street’s funding dried up and he had to abandon the idea of the first hydro electric power plant on the Osage River.

During construction the lake was referred to as Osage Reservoir or Lake Osage. The Missouri General Assembly officially named it Lake Benton after the former Senator Thomas Hart Benton. None of the names took as it was popularly referred to by its location in the Ozarks. The electric generating station, however, is still referred to by the utility company as the Osage Hydroelectric Plant.

At the time of construction it was one of the largest man-made lakes in the world and the largest in the United States. Though built to provide hydroelectric power for customers of Union Electric, the lake quickly became a significant tourist destination for the Midwest. There are over 70,000 homes existing along the lake, many of which are vacation homes. Spectacular scenery characteristic of the Ozarks has also helped to transform the lake into a major resort area. More than 3 million people visit the lake annually.

The Lake of the Ozarks is unique in the fact that it is the largest man-made, non-flood control lake in the United States. The lake rarely varies in surface elevation by more than 5 feet (2 m), with normal pool elevation of 660.0 feet (201.2 m) above mean sea level. Unlike many flood-control lakes constructed by the Corps of Engineers, most of the shoreline on the Lake of the Ozarks is privately owned, and the relatively stable surface elevation has created ideal conditions for private development within a few feet of the shoreline. The lake is promoted as the "Midwest Coast".

Party Cove in 2007 During the process of land acquisition for the lake during the 1920s, 17,500 acres (71 km²) of land along the Grand Glaize Arm of the lake was set aside for a National Park. In 1946, this land was acquired by the State of Missouri for Lake of the Ozarks State Park, the largest State Park in Missouri. Other State Parks on the shores of the lake include Ha Ha Tonka State Park which is located on the Niangua Arm of the lake.