In this undated photo, MSTA members at an early Leadership Conference show their team spirit. The first conference was held in 1948.

The good life at Bunker Hill

By Sandy Watts

Deep in the Missouri Ozarks, in a place so wild and beautiful it was included in America’s first federally protected river system, Bunker Hill Ranch Resort has been a secluded sanctuary for MSTA members and their families for nearly 60 years. MSTA received the gift of 2,080 acres along the Jacks Fork in what is now the Ozark National Scenic Riverways from a remarkable benefactor, a man of conscience who believed teachers could change the world.

The story begins in 1925 when a Sedalia cigar maker named E. T. Behrens climbed into his Model-T Ford and embarked on a quest. Broken in body and spirit after a string of ill-fated publishing ventures, he spent three summers camping in the Ozarks, exploring ever deeper into the rugged wilderness. His journey ended in 1929 with the purchase of three and one-half sections of Shannon County land. Sheltered from the outside world by towering limestone bluffs, the property bordered more than a mile of clear, spring-fed river. It seemed a good place to live out the rest of his days.

When Behrens moved to his new property on the Jacks Fork, he was 63 years old, and doctors had told him he had six months to live. Despite the dire predictions, Behrens spent another 17 years hewing Bunker Hill Ranch Resort out of the underbrush.

Then, in 1947, the former cigar maker did the most extraordinary thing of all. He gave his piece of paradise to the teachers of Missouri. No one was more surprised by this generous act than the teachers themselves. The idea was broached in a letter to MSTA Executive Secretary Everett Keith from Behrens’ friend, George S. Wattles, who was the editor of the Mountain View Standard.

“Not long ago an old gentleman — past 81 in fact — presented me with the plan he has in mind for the disposal of his property upon his death,” wrote Wattles in a letter dated May 31, 1947. “He told me he would like to leave the place to the public as a recreation center for school teachers. It all seems rather strange …”

Intrigued, Everett Keith and a few trusted advisers made a Bunker Hill pilgrimage the next weekend. Near the little town of Summersville, they bounced down a washboard county road that after six miles dwindled to a teeth-rattling two-mile track of solid rock. Dodging boulders and hanging on for dear life, they plunged precipitously downto the river.

Arriving at the “resort,” they found seven cabins on stilts. His and hers outhouses had half-moons carved in the doors. “It was a small camp as primitive as could be — and the single most beautiful spot in all the country,” Everett Keith would later remember.

Bunker Hill bore all the earmarks of a big, beautiful white elephant. Tactfully, the MSTA delegation suggested that the state parks department might be a more appropriate beneficiary. But E.T. Behrens stood his ground.

“He was very matter-of-fact,” said Everett Keith in a 1996 interview. “You could tell he was a man of conviction. He said the good life for everybody depended on teachers. Willing the resort to teachers, he felt, promoted democracy.”

On July 23, 1947, E. T. Behrens officially deeded Bunker Hill Ranch Resort to MSTA. He died one month later.
MSTA leaders may have been dubious about their new acquisition, but members were delighted. The next fall, School & Community reported that “hundreds of teachers and their families” had enjoyed the facilities over the summer, at a cost of $3.50 per day for meals and lodging.

In remarkably short order, Bunker Hill went from ramshackle fishing camp to a facility that rivaled most state parks. A Bunker Hill Committee, chaired by University of Missouri professor H. H. London, drafted an ambitious 10-year master plan that called for electrification, road improvements, a water and sewage system, new lodges and cottages, a shelter house and a conference center.

London proved to be the right man for the job — the 10-year plan was completed in only seven.

MSTA regions and CTAs rallied to the cause, donating thousands of dollars for construction projects.

Were he alive today, E.T. Behrens would no doubt approve of MSTA’s stewardship of his beloved Bunker Hill. Today, some 2,500 guests a year stay in 19 modern cabins, which can comfortably accommodate up to 110 people.

Thanks to the late Jack Clark, who managed the resort for 22 years, the two-mile Bunker Hill drive is a smooth, tree-lined ribbon of asphalt. The neatly manicured grounds include tennis courts, a miniature golf course, a council ring and a playground.

This is the first year on the job for Bunker Hill managers Gregg and Mary Howell. They supervise a staff of two full-time employees and 15 to 20 seasonal workers, mostly young people from Summersville and Mountain View, along with four excellent country cooks.

“The phone starts ringing the minute we plug it on Jan. 1,” Gregg says. “Folks want to make sure they get the same weekend and the same cabin.” People, it seems, are sentimental about their Bunker Hill vacations — and with good reason.

“Time stands still at Bunker Hill,” reads a sign in the dining hall. Indeed, the leisurely rhythm of camp life is a snapshot of yesteryear, a slice of Americana as wholesome as the apple pie served in the dining hall.

But most of all, Bunker Hill is where MSTA members get on with the pleasant business of doing what E. T. Behrens intended — restoring mind, body and soul in preparation for the important work of making the world a better place for us all.

Bunker Hill information

Bunker Hill Ranch Resort opens the second weekend in May and closes after the third weekend in October. The nonprofit resort, located near Mountain View, offers affordable vacations for MSTA members and their families. To schedule a stay in one of the comfortable riverfront cabins, call Gregg and Mary Howell at (417) 934-2333.