Volume 8, Number 5 - Fall 1983
Branson Burned in 1912
by Dewey Sailsbury
This photograph was taken in August 1912. The camera was facing northeast from a roof top near the present location of the Branson Christian Church.
Most of the men from Branson were in Ozark where a "Bald Knobber" trial was in progress. It was a hot, dry day with a strong wind from the south. A woman was ironing in the kitchen of the Commercial Hotel, a large ornate building where Ball Office Supply is now located. The wood stove used to heat the iron caught the kindling box on fire. The few men remaining in town were unable to extinguish the fire, but for some unknown reason carried the stove out of the hotel and into the street.
Some of the buildings shown are still standing. The old Security Bank building (now Tri-Lakes Loan), the Depot (since enlarged), and the building now occupied by Ozark Sightseeing are visible in the photo. The gutted walls in the center of town were re-built and now occupied by The Shack and Hobby Center. The decrepit wood building shown was a livery stable long since torn down.
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