OSAGE BEACH - Twelve community college students have begun working on rebuilding the Pin Oak Lodge dining hall in Lake of the Ozarks State Park. The original foundation has been removed and a portion of the two chimneys left standing after the September 2010 fire have been taken apart.
Park Superintendent Bill Arnold said the natural stone blocks that were removed from the chimneys have been numbered and will be replaced once a new foundation has been laid.
Gov. Jay Nixon promised to rebuild the lodge shortly after it was destroyed by fire during a thunderstorm on Sept. 3, 2010. Last spring, Nixon announced that he was working with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) and State Fair Community College to create a special program in which students could earn college credit and learn valuable skills by doing the actual construction work.
Nixon said he had a special interest in seeing the building rebuilt because his wife, Georganne, had attended Girl Scout camp there as a child.