Why Isn’t Mark Twain Lake as Popular as Lake of the Ozarks?

I remember when the Mark Twain Lake area first began real development decades ago and the belief at the time was that it would be as popular in Missouri as Lake of the Ozarks, but that never happened. Why? That's a question the internet is debating.

Full disclosure: my family has a long history with the Mark Twain Lake area. My uncle was a contractor who was involved in many homes/buildings/businesses in the area. I also worked with a radio station at what used to be called The Landing 30 years ago at the lake. I go way back with that Missouri lake area.

I saw this interesting question shared just a few days ago on the Missouri sub-Reddit. It asked "Why isn't Mark Twain Lake Popular like LotO?". That's a great question.

Why isn't Mark Twain Lake Popular like LotO?
byu/ctcourt inmissouri

Of all the points made in that conversation, this is one I found most interesting:

"Mark Twain Lake was set up to block some types of private land ownership around the shore." They go on to say that the goal of Mark Twain Lake was to avoid some of the more elaborate development (and problems) that have become a part of Lake of the Ozarks.

I have mixed emotions about what Mark Twain Lake has become and what it could have been. On one hand, I really hoped we would see more businesses boom because of the increasing popularity of the lake, but I also really hoped it wouldn't become as insane as Lake of the Ozarks can be. I love that area, but not during the peak summer months. Nope.

What are your thoughts on Mark Twain Lake versus Lake of the Ozarks? Would you love for Mark Twain Lake to someday rival LOTO? I honestly now doubt that will ever happen and would argue that perhaps that's a good thing.