Postmarks
The Lakeview Lodge is shown on this postcard at the top of Skyline Drive, up above the east side of Lake Bella Vista, with the Mountain View Lodge in the background. These lodges were built by the Linebarger Brothers after they opened the Lake Bella Vista summer resort in 1917. Postmarked on July 6, 1921, this postcard was sent to Mrs. Ed Brownlee in Tulsa, with the message, “We came here for Jul 4. I go back to Siloam tonight. Wish you would come over … Fannie.” Across the street from where these lodges stood now stands the Keith family home, built in 1954 by E.L. Keith, who bought Lake Bella Vista in 1952 and sold it to John Cooper in 1963. The hill where these two lodges were located now holds mobile homes, ones that Mr. Cooper transported up the hill in 1966 to house visitors who came for sales tours of his retirement village.