It's been on chain of lakes for as long as anyone can remember but shut down this morning

They will be missed.

Anyone know what happened? Were they a victim of the slow economy or something else?

Slow economy I believe - co-worker got the call taoday to come pick his boat up out of in/out service. Has no idea when he will receive his $1500 check back for this season. He is thinking of bunking at Bald Knob which should provide it's own costs, challenges and heart burn.

Wow, thats too bad. That place has been there forever.

It has been rumored to have been for sale for many years. It sits on a perfect spot on the river for condo development. My guess is they wanted too much for the land originally and now they probably just went BK.

Sad to lose them tho. I buy parts there and when I got started in boating I used their ramp.

I am about 1 mile north on the river
it had been sold a couple years ago but the army corps could not act fast enough for building permits so deal went south current owner has said he was tired of operating at a loss so shut doors
the building on route 120 is also closed shame

www.ruggedshark.com/

bad link what is it to

From the owners of Watertower,
First and foremost, we want to thank our employees for their years of dedicated service, and our customers for their patronage and support.

The decision was made to close the business due to the current economic conditions with no sign of improvement. There is no forced bankruptcy, it was a financial decision made by the owners.

The police were called by us out of concern for our customers. Due to our limited hours we asked for additional patrols to keep our outside storage boats safe.

Any boats in storage or here for service are not required to be picked up immediately. We will be honoring all contracts for storage, and we will be in touch with all service and storage customers to make necessary arrangements. The slips and storage building will continue to operate throughout the summer. There will be no in-and-out. Anybody who has paid for that service will be refunded their money.

Please call (815)385-3455 with any questions and we will give you the honest answers. As previously mentioned, we will be in touch with all customers with their boats on our property. Nobody is required to come pick them up immediately.

Again, thank you to all of our employees and customers.