Branson

There are no records, and only sparse evidence, of the first human occupation of the area surrounding Branson. Scholars theorize that the ancestors of the Osage Indians appeared in central Missouri sometime in the 14th century. These people were nomads, following game around the region east of the Mississippi between the Missouri and Arkansas Rivers. The tribe lived this way for centuries, dominating other tribes who shared their homelands and aggressively attacking any others who invaded their territory. When the first Anglo men began to arrive in the region in the early 1700s, the Osage were engaged in war with tribes from the southern woodlands as well as with many of the plains Indians.

After Spain claimed the region, Spanish and French traders began plying their goods with the Osage in exchange for fur, but the warring traditions of the Osage disconcerted the Spanish and contributed to the crown's decision to transfer the Louisiana Territory back to France. One month later, the area was sold to the United States as part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. The following decades were tragic for the Osage people, as the United States government made and broke treaties and forced the Osage into submission. The subsequent end of Indian occupation opened the door to homesteaders.

Moving west from Kentucky and Tennessee, English, Irish and Scottish farmers carved an existence and created a unique culture in the Ozark Mountains. Pride and individuality came with these people, who thrived on the isolation that the deep woods provided, becoming fiercely independent and suspicious of outsiders. This isolation served to preserve their culture well into the 20th century.

Existence for these settlers was tough, with limited soil for farming along the river valleys and steep, heavily forested slopes that made raising livestock a challenge. In fact, timber was what actually proved to be first practical economic stabilizer. To satisfy the railroad's insatiable hunger for crossties, farmers became loggers and sawyers, while once-forested tracts of land were clear-cut. As more and more farmland became available, strawberries and tobacco became cash crops, contributing to the area's cash flow. In 1837, the Missouri State Legislature created Taney County and named the town of Forsyth as the county seat. The area grew for the next 20 years, as lumber, ranching and farming drove the economy.

This progress would all end in 1861, though, when civil war literally tore the area apart. Taney County lay on the border between the Confederacy and the Union, with the land changing hands many times during the war. Battles left innocent citizens dying and wounded, homes broken and burned, and the area's infrastructure devastated. Once the war was over, the few who remained tried to rebuild, but it would be nearly a half a century before the gashes left by the war scarred over.