Blue Eye
You can’t go further south in Stone County or Missouri than Blue Eye. Located
just south of Mo. 86 and Mo. 13 intersection, partially in Missouri and partially
in Arkansas, the twin towns are incorporated separately. Blue Eye has another
quality rare to Ozarks towns – it is built on relatively level ground.
The construction of Table Rock Dam changed Blue Eye from a well-rounded
agricultural community and tomato producing region when rich farmland was
covered by the new lake. However, the lake also brought opportunity by changing
rugged land that was considered nearly worthless into valuable home sites.
Blue Eye, population 129, has a strong tradition of civic clubs and sportsmen’s
organizations that provide social activities, fund-raisers and recreation for its
residents of all ages.
History
When settlers moved to the area that would become Blue Eye in about 1850,
they found much evidence of its first inhabitants, native Americans, according to
the Stone County Historical Society..
The area was called Butler’s Barrens after one of the first families.
The name
Blue Eye is possibly derived from its first postmaster’s distinctive blue eyes.
Postmaster Elbert Butler began serving in 1870.
Its location on the old Wilderness Road brought freighters through the community
hauling all types of products and merchandise between Missouri and Arkansas.
“It’s a good place to live. When something happens to someone, we all feel it. That’s a closeness that you don’t get in a bigger
town. The school is a really good school, the teachers know me by my first name and I know them, their husbands and
kids. New people move in and they just join right in. There’s something here for kids to do. Positive things."
Tara Swofford |
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