With more than 450,000 visitors a year, Montauk State Park has earned the reputation of being one of the most popular vacation spots in Missouri.
The park’s natural resource manager Doug Rusk says one of the reasons behind the well-earned reputation is the efforts at the Dorman L. Steelman Lodge, especially the work of John Johnston and his staff.
This year attendance is up 20 percent in camping and other activities. The weather has helped some, Rusk said, but the first impressions people get are equally important.
“The lodge is one of the first places people stop by to go get supplies,” Rusk said. “That’s often the first contact people have when they come to the park. The staff there is very friendly, smiles and gives people a good first impression.”
Johnston has worked at the lodge for 28 years, starting when he was in high school in 1988.
“Being able to work at the park, the atmosphere is what got me interested,” Johnston said. “I could not have made a better choice.”
He’s worked in the back, in the kitchen, out front, sold trout tags and has been the Lodge General Manager for two years after Steve Fisher retired.
Johnston’s done about every job there is.
Johnston said it’s a great place to work, the environment is perfect, everybody works as a team and they get to meet some interesting people during the summer season.
“We get to have a lot of fun, but we also know we have a responsibility to get our work done,” Johnston said. “We want to make the park and lodge a great place to visit and come back year after year.”
According to the yearly number of visitors and Rusk, it’s working.
Johnston said some of his work ethic was taught to him by former concessionaires Bob Ross and Vernon Hess. Some of Hess’ finest hours, Johnston said, came when he worked with the public and sold daily trout tags.
“At first and until you got to know him, Vernon Hess was a person you didn’t know how to take,” Johnston said. “But one thing he took seriously was treating the people visiting the park.”
Johnston said Hess’ top priority was to treat visitors with respect, always willing to help them with their needs, smile and treat them like you wanted to be treated.
“You treat them well, make sure they have a good time and they’re likely to come back,” Johnston said. “If you don’t you’ve lost them.”
Johnston said he has seen several generations of families visit the park. That makes him believe the lodge staff is doing its job of promoting the activities at Montauk.
According to Johnston it’s not all his doing. Rather it’s the effort of the entire staff working together. There are 50 employees working full and part time during the peak season.
Lodge employees have worked along with many improvements at the park and lodge, such as in camping units, renovations.
He calls the lodge employees family. Some employees are working there in their 70s while others are in their 20s and 30s.
“It must be a great place to work,” Johnston said. “What else would it be when you have people in their 70s driving 40 plus miles a day to be here.”
The key to a successful lodge, Johnston said, is everybody knows their job.
“We like to keep everything well-oiled up and working like clockwork,” Johnston said.
The late Dorman L. Steelman played an important part in getting the lodge built. Construction started in 1973.
“He fought for more than two years to get it built,” said his wife Maxine Steelman.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s while serving in the Missouri Legislature as a representative from Dent County, Steelman sponsored legislation authorizing the sale of revenue bonds for the construction of the lodge, according to a historical account under Steelman’s picture at the lodge.
Other facilities were built throughout the Missouri Park System as a result of the legislation. However, the lodge at Montauk was the first to be constructed from the revenue generated at the various facilities the bonds were sold at.
Construction cost was $360,300. It was estimated in 1991 the cost to replace the structure would be somewhere in the vicinity of $1.5 to $2 million.
There was neither formal dedication nor naming the lodge until July 29, 1984, when, through the efforts of Senator Danny Staples, Eminence, a dedication ceremony was held and the lodge was formally named the Dorman L. Steelman Lodge.
Today the lodge has a general store selling camping supplies, souvenirs and fishing equipment. It also has a full service restaurant and a meeting room available to groups and seminars.
It also includes a motel with 18 rooms. Wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) connections are now available at no charge in the Dorman L. Steelman Lodge. Wi-Fi has been added to meet the requests of state park users to stay connected. This free service is popular with regular visitors as well as those coming to the park for meetings or conferences. Guests must provide their own computers.
