Arthur T. Nelson became well known throughout Missouri and the U.S. and played a key role in persuading authorities to build Route 66 through Lebanon, donating land for the new road. He and his son Frank R. Nelson operated extensive businesses that included a super one-stop Texaco service station offering greasing, crank case service, tire service, a store, and mechanical repairs; an apple orchard of 100 acres with more than 10 varieties of apples shipped across the U.S. and five acres devoted to peaches, pears, cherries, strawberries, and other berries; and a cooperage that produced 1,000 barrels each day for shipping apples nationwide. Frank worked beside his father and, after Col. Nelson's death, managed the properties until 1944, also giving land for the Laclede County Community Center and serving as president of the Rotary Club. The family also developed traveler accommodations and attractions, including Nelson Dream Village, a semicircle of furnished stone cottages around a lighted musical fountain with colored lights that Col. Nelson said came to him in a dream, as well as the Top O' The Ozarks Inn, which replaced the original hamburger stand before giving way to the Nelson Tavern. Work on the Tavern and renovation of the service station began in 1930, and the Tavern opened in January 1931 with 20 bedrooms and a special driveway bordered with spirea from Rt 66. The family's influence also connected to road promotion through the Ozarks Trail Committee, five local men who attended the 1917 Ozarks Trail Convention in Amarillo, TX, as delegates advocating the Northern Route from Springfield to St. Louis so the trail would pass through Lebanon.
