Photo byRiverbird by Shawnee Bluff via Facebook.

The Urbauer Fishing Lodge Historic District is a group of properties located in the Lake of the Ozarks region. This site has also been known as the Mozart Club and Windsor Estates Mental Health Facility. It is a U.S. Historic District and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 8, 2006.

Today, the site is known as the Riverbend Winery by Shawnee Bluff. The historic district includes five contributing buildings, a contributing site, and a contributing structure built by St. Louis industrialist, Hugo Urbauer, as a private fishing retreat.

The Urbauer Fishing Lodge was developed around 1930. The property includes the one to two-story main lodge, a Bungalow-style house, a pumphouse, and a seven-vehicle garage. There are also concrete stairs that lead down to the Niangua River. The main lodge is constructed of sandstone, limestone, and cinderblock.

Hugo Urbauer first used the property as a recreational retreat. In 1948 after Urbauer's death, the property was converted into another use. The historic district represents one of the fishing and hunting clubs of the early 1900s that dwindled after once being popular in the Ozarks region.

Urbauer was a prominent businessman in St. Louis who made his success in the heating industry. He routinely visited the retreat with his family and business associates. Urbauer later became involved with real estate. He also left an educational endowment.

In the 1920s when the automobile was being developed, wealthy persons who liked to fish and hunt started making trips to the Ozarks area. Hugo Urbauer was one of them. He found his resort site in 1928 at age 60.

Urbauer and his wife, Ina, acquired a 4.9-acres west of Camdenton and on the bluffs above Niangua River. Born in 1868 in Austria, Urbauer was the son of a Lutheran minister. When visiting family in Milwaukee in 1886, his father died. Urbauer decided to stay in the United States.

Urbauer left Milwaukee for St. Louis and found a job as a steamfitter's helper. He served as an apprentice for a while and later started his own business. Urbauer-Atwood Heating Company was founded in 1899.

When Urbauer married Ina C. Champ in 1913, it was beneficial for him because her father was a well-known manufacturer in St. Louis and he helped Urbauer expand his business.

In 1920, Urbauer expanded his business and called it Midwest Piping and Supply. His company became nationally known with sales offices around the country, and three branch plants. Because of his passion for construction and the outdoors, he built a fishing lodge in the Ozarks.

When the Bagnell Dam was built, this altered the Ozarks creating the Lake of the Ozarks and more visitors.

The Urbauers and his friends would be chauffered to his property. As such, they were nicknamed the Millionaires Club.

Ina Urbauer died in 1947. A year later, Hugo Urbauer died.

The property was sold and converted into a bar and restaurant called the Mozark Club. The cottage on the property was destroyed by fire in 1954 and the club closed.

The property went through several hands and last served as a nursing home and mental hospital. When that operation closed during the 1980s, the buildings fell into disrepair which was the case with resorts in remote areas.

Hugo and Ina both remembered Washington University in their bequests. Hugo's gift funded the construction of Urbauer Hall and the engineering laboratory building. The remainder of his estate benefits the McKelvey School of Engineering.

In 1994, funds from the endowment established the Hugo F. and Ina Champ Urbauer Professorship in Engineering.

Ina was a member of the Midwest Piping and Supply board of directors, so she bequeathed all of her stock holdings to the School of Medicine. Her gift sustains the Hugo F. and Ina C. Urbauer Professorship at the School of Medicine.

The buildings have new life

The Riverbird Winery at Shawnee Bluff remembers the original owners on their website page. It's aware of the historic value of the property.

This new venue will be available for special events and weddings. Conversation about the Riverbird Winery was shared on Facebook starting in 2018. It's still a work in process but getting closer. Last week, there was a soft opening with a rehearsal dinner.

Check their Facebook page for further announcements.

Thanks for reading.