Congress approved funding for dams on the White River in Arkansas and Missouri in 1941, but World War II and then other projects following the war delayed construction of Table Rock Dam until the 1950s. Reportedly, a man named Banach purchased land near the White River and built a house that included facilities for his employees to use as a vacation spot. With the development of Eureka Springs late in the nineteenth century, more people began to explore the remoter parts of Carroll County. Hugh Bandy acquired land along the White River at the state line in 1861 the area was generally known as Bandy’s Bend. By 1825, the Osage had been removed west to what is now Oklahoma, and settlers began attempting to farm the forested rocky slopes of the Ozark Mountains. Northern Arkansas was long considered the hunting land of the Osage, who lived to the north in what is now Missouri. Holiday Island citizens approved incorporating Holiday Island as a town on November 3, 2020, and it officially became a second-class city on March 23, 2021. Located along a portion of Table Rock Lake, which is part of the White River, Holiday Island consists of roughly 4,500 acres and has a population of more than 2,000. Holiday Island is a planned community in northwestern Carroll County, a few miles north of Eureka Springs (Carroll County) near the Missouri state line.

Holiday island arkansas map