The Very Odd 'Golf' Tower At Lake Of The Ozarks & Why It’s Still Standing

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. — You know it when you see it: the Lake of the Ozarks has its own "Trump Tower." Built by Wally Trump in the early 1980s, the tower still stands between the divided portions of Osage Beach Parkway, across the street from McDonalds.

And while the world-famous Trump Tower in New York was opened in 1983, at Lake of the Ozarks, what would become a locally famous tower was built by another man named Trump around the same time.

A dive into the tower's history reveals fascinating and in many ways very classically "vintage Lake of the Ozarks" details, from its construction and original use, to the reason it says "GOLF" on the side, to the legal battle around it. And now the tower is being offered free to the City of Osage Beach.

Tonight, the City Board of Aldermen will discuss whether or not they want it.

The History Of The Tower

In the late 1970s, Wally Trump opened The Fort Of The Osage Fun Park.

The park is described in the Lake of the Ozarks 50th anniversary book, published in 1981:

Fort of the Osage Fun Park

The Fort of the Osage Fun Park opened in 1977. Since the opening the Fort has entertained increasing numbers of visitors, and has expanded the facility each year. The Fort will continue to progress with the Lake of the Ozarks area.

Today, the Fort of the Osage Fun Park is a scenic park that is kept spotlessly clean. Instead of being a mass of concrete, the Fort is plentifully decorated with redbud trees, dogwood trees and other natural beauty marks of the Ozarks. The rides available at the Fort are a mixture of slow rides for children, and fast "tummy teasers" for teenagers and aults [sic]. The "Flyin Flume" is a water-log ride that doesn't guarantee a "dry" experience! Rides the whole family will enjoy include the C.P. [Huntington] train that tours the park, the 175-foot tall "Cloud Buster" tower ride that offers a scenic view of the Lake area. Bumper cars, and Paddle Boats are also a favorite to all. Rides that are not for the "weak-stomached" include the Scrambler, Yo- Yo swings, and Mad Mans Mixer. There are also select rides for the small children. The newest addition to the park is the "Cracker Barrel Theater", and ampitheater [sic] for show productions and entertainment. There are a variety of gift shops and fast food outlets located within.

While the Fort of the Osage Fun Park entertains thousands of visitors each year, it also has a definite economic impact in the local area. The Fort employs over 60 people each year from the local area. Those in charge of specific areas are: Larry Risner who handles all advertising and promotion, Pat Bagby is over all maintenance and supervises the ride operators during the summer season, Dave Schaumann also takes care of repairs and maintenance and supervises all grounds operations during the summer season, the gift department is managed by Jo Baby and the food department is under the charge of Shirley Gaddy. The Fort of the Osage is owned by Wally and Carol Trump and over all management is handled by Carol Trump.

Submitted by Carol Trump

Carol Trump's mention of the "Cloud Buster" tower is a reference to the observation tower. The seating area for the ride wrapped all the way around the tower and could accommodate more than a dozen adults, by one former staffer's estimate. The ride brought them to the very top, using a counterweight inside the tower: essentially like an elevator.

According to a letter by Roger Sandfort, owner of Lake Ozark Consulting and Construction Management, the tower was built towards the end of the construction of the amusement park. Sandfort's letter — recently submitted to the City of Osage Beach by the tower's current owners Tom and Carolyn Lorraine, reveals details about the amusement park and the tower:

To Whom it may concern,

In the late 1970s or early 1980s we built a Amusement Park for Wally Trump called Fort of the Osage Across from McDonalds and next to Tom Loraine's office. This consisted of an actual Duplication of a Eighteen hundreds Fort including numerous rides, and shops. Towards the completion of the project, Wally decided to put the tower in that still stands there. I, took the job of pouring the base for it. The base consists of 91 cubic yards of steel reinforced concrete. 1 cubic yard of concrete weight when poured from the truck is approximately 4050 pounds making the weight of the base approximately 368,550 pounds.

Thanks,

Roger Sandfort

The tower was purchased out of Florida and transported to the Lake in pieces.

David Schaummann, mentioned in the short write-up by Carol Trump, still lives at Lake of the Ozarks and handles maintenance for Riverview Baptist Church in Osage Beach. He has some vivid memories of the Fort of the Osage Fun Park and that tower.

"It looked like the old forts that you see on the movies," he said of the park. "The poles standing up side by side, with pointy ends, like pencils."

Schaummann recalled one particularly harrowing incident with the tower elevator. In the middle of a routine ride, suddenly the elevator came to a halt. The occupants on the ride were stuck, halfway up the approximately 180-foot tower. "They were getting upset and I don't blame them, they were stuck!" he recalled.

Fort of the Osage staff called the elevator company in St. Louis, Schaummann recalled, and the company told them, "Somebody's got to go up to the top."

Schaummann got tapped to go up. "There's steel stairs inside there," he said, adding, "I'd hate to go inside there now! Probably full of bats and who knows what."

Despite being terrified of heights, he climbed the stairs to the very top. "I'll never forget that... that was very challenging for me. To go past those steel counter-weights." He was in good physical shape, having recently come out of service with the Army, so he managed to get to the top. He had a walkie-talkie, so he corresponded with staff on the ground who were on the phone with the elevator company in St. Louis.

"On the very top, there's a door, and you could actually stand up on there... there were motors and stuff," he recalled.

Schaummann pushed the right series of buttons and managed to get the elevator working again. Eventually, the occupants were safely lowered to the ground.

"I wasn't there when they unloaded," he said, "but they were not happy."

He recalled another strange incident.

"When they built the tower, they [buried] big, steel cables... the intent was to ground it," he said, noting the four cables were buried about 20 feet underground and stretched 100 feet to the north, south, east, and west. Then, he recalled, there came a thunderstorm.

"Lightning hit the tower, and I got a call on the radio: 'We have a fire in the gift shop.' So I go running up the hill and lightning had struck the tower... The [lightning] went through the ground and into two or three water heaters."

According to the Roller Coaster Database online (rcdb.com), the park closed in 1986, with only 15 of the park's 70 acres having ever been developed.

By the early '90s, Wally Trump had died, and Attorney Tom Lorraine and his wife Carolyn bought most of the property from the Trump trust. According to a letter from Tom Lorraine to the City of Osage Beach explaining the property's history:

[W]e decided to dismantle remnants of the park that lay in ruins under an agreement with Wally's trustee. We used the concrete and fill material to construct a proposed nine-hole lighted golf course and a lighted driving range.

After completion of our driving range and preparation of the course, we were forced with a threat of condemnation by the Missouri Department of Transportation.

We chose not to go to Court since Carolyn was the Presiding Commissioner of Camden County. We accepted an offer of purchase for our property that became the right of way for the one-way couple on Highway 54 through the city of Osage Beach.

We were left with the old lake property of the Fort of the Osage and with the tower ride that remained on our high ground of the old property.

That explains the word "GOLF" emblazoned on the side of the rusty tower that still stands today.

The tower was inspected by engineers in 2012 and in 2022. The 2012 inspection was triggered by a report of someone who claimed they saw the tower swaying in the wind approximately 10 feet back and forth. The engineer report submitted by Schultz & Summers Engineering in July 2012 stated: "It is likely the bystander's view was distorted by a cloud cover moving with the wind, which created an optical illusion. A 10-foot sway of the structure would have caused significant evidence of such an occurrence if not a complete collapse of the structure." That report as well as the inspection conducted in 2022 concluded there appeared to be no issues with the tower's foundation, but that the metal further up was obviously in disrepair and needed maintenance and repainting.

Now, the Lorraines are offering the tower to the City of Osage Beach.

"Carolyn and I are now retired, and we wish to offer the tower of the old, dismantled ride to the City of Osage Beach as a permanent historical marker to remind the future residents and visitors of the past usage of an important part of our local history," Tom Lorraine wrote in a letter to the city. "The tower remains secure but requires painting and hopefully an installation of a U.S. Flag to commemorate this history."

He added, "This donation of the historical value and the actual value of the steel and property access to the tower will be handled as a tax matter for Carolyn and I. It is our hope that you and our Board of Alderman will see a value to our donation to the citizens and visitors of the Lake of the Ozarks. We leave our tower to your discretion and ask if you dismantle the tower that the land access be deeded back to us."

The City Board is set to discuss the tower at the board's Oct. 19 meeting, at 6 p.m., in City Hall.