Part of the Lake of the Ozarks area is the 2,400 acre Ha Ha Tonka (Laughing Spirit) State Park. Within that State Park are the amazing ruins of the Snyder Castle.
Robert McClure Snyder, a prominent Kansas City businessman, first in the grocery business, and then in real estate, banking, and utilities, first visited the area in 1903. He eventually purchased 2,500 acres for a private family retreat. Construction on Snyder's mansion began in 1905. Snyder envisioned a European style castle, with a center atrium rising 3 and a half stories to a skylight, nine greenhouses, a carriage house, and an 80 foot private water tower. Snyder said, "Here I will spend my leisure, secure from the worries of business and the excitement of city life. I will fish and loaf and explore the caves of these hills, with no fear of intrusion."
Tragically, in 1906, Snyder was killed in an automobile accident in Kansas City, one of the state's first. Robert's sons, Leroy, Kenneth and Robert, Jr., completed the castle in 1922 but at that time, the family businesses began to decline and in 1937 the family fortune was depleted. The castle was then leased and operated as a hotel.
In 1942 sparks from one of the many fireplaces ignited the roof, and in a matter of hours, the castle and nearby carriage house were gutted. All that was left were the exterior walls. The castle sat abandoned for the next 36 years. In 1976 vandals torched the water tower and in 1978 the state of Missouri purchased the estate and opened it to the public as a State Park. The water tower is now being restored.
