History of Willow Springs and the Civilian Conservation Corps - 417-252-3883

The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Local Willow Springs Area, and Missouri's natural wonders

This page was created to inform the public about some very important history of this area and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC is something that worked a great deal nation wide and did so many things that benefit us every day, yet we don't even know or give credit to the ones that did it for us. The CCC is something that I really wish people knew more about as well as Noblett lake and Camp Willow. Most people know about Noblett, but a lot know nothing more than the fact that it's a lake. I think the fact that it was mostly done by hand (the dam) and the fact that the boys that did it were only a few years older than me (I'm 17) makes is pretty cool. Noblett lake was built somewhere between 1938 and1940. It was a public works project in which the CCC carried out. The men of Camp Willow, company 1739 built this lake for recreation. The pavilion was once a bathhouse. I have reprints of the original building plans for the bathhouse. (compliments of my good friend James, shared services archaeologist for the Willow Springs/Cassville/Ava ranger district. )I also have reprints of old black and white photos taken when the dam was under construction. A lot of the photos are on this site. You wouldn't believe the work put into that. Sometime in the 60's the lake was deemed unfit for swimming. The bottom line is that it wasn't taken care of. Wasn't kept up with. Several years after later, the USDA Forest Service decided that they would open up the clearwater beach bathhouse and make it a pavilion so people could still enjoy and use it. This bathhouse is one of the 4 (known) remaining in Missouri! It consisted of a mens and womans changing rooms that included one shower and changing stalls for the womans and an open room with a bench for the mens. A consession stand was in between the rooms in the center of the pavilion. If you go in the pavilion, look at the inner left wall and you can see screws still in place where the stalls once were (This was the womans changing room). There are two buildings directly behind the pavilion. The building on the left is the pump house and the building on the right is the comfort station which consists of flush toilets. The lakes max depth is 12 feet. The dam side is the deepest where as the beach side (park side) is as shallow as 5 feet. There are several known deaths in the lake. Camp Willow (the CCC Camp that the enrollees that built the lake lived in) is only a few miles from Noblett lake. If you go down AP highway, across from the paved road to Noblett is a dirt road. (Forest road 108). After driving 2 or so miles west on FR 108, you will see on the right a small round parking space with two signs. Welcome to Camp Willow, home of company 1739. Not much still exists, just the swimming pool and the foundations of most buildings. CCC camps were not built to be permanent. In fact, after the CCC came to an end in 1942, a lot of the buildings such as the barracks and storage garages were transferred to military bases. They assembled and disassembled like legos. Some of the buildings from Camp Willow were used at the army training center in Ft. Leonardwood. I also have photos from Camp Willow. Bluebuck fire tower, located on 181 south was also build by the men of Camp Willow in 1935.

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