Bagnell Dam had recently been completed and the Osage River basin was filling with the waters that would become the Lake of the Ozarks. The original Lodge was built by a Mr. and Mrs. Kelly. Little is known about the Kellys, but the original Lodge had 20 rooms and a restaurant, which soon established itself as a place where everyone met to enjoy good food and the company of their friends and neighbors. The Kelly's sold the Lodge to Bill Raynor, Sr., in 1940. A swimming pool, believed to be the first resort swimming pool in the Lake area, was added around 1946.
Visitors recall that the pool, being fed by a natural spring, was always very cold.
The original Lodge burned in January of 1950, cause unknown. But, using much of the original stone, Popkess had the present building erected on the site in 1953 and 1954. Other owners of Arrowhead Lodge included Eddie Jordan, who owned it from 1975 until 1992, and added the large glassed-in dining area and upstairs cocktail lounge. Jim Prentice owned the lodge from 1992 until 1999, when it was sold to its present owners, Darrell Webery and his wife, Kay. Aside from a complete renovation of the kitchen, a thorough cleaning and necessary maintenance, the Weberys have done little to change Arrowhead Lodge.