lakesidejoplinmo.html

The folks shown on this postcard await the electric trolley at Lakeside Park. A unique brand of amusement park hit the U.S. in the 1890s-the "trolley park." Power companies charged trolley owners a flat rate for electricity, regardless of actual usage. Since they were being charged for weekends and evenings when fewer trolleys ran, the railway magnates looked for ways to entice people to travel at those times as well. They built "pleasure resorts " out in the country, usually near bodies of water. By the early 1900s, every major U.S. city boasted at least one trolley park. Alfred H. Rogers, who established the Southwest Missouri Electric Railway Company in 1893, got caught up in the trolley park movement, too, convincing his shareholders that a park would be a "judicious and paying investment." He began the venture by purchasing 40 acres where the trolley tracks crossed Center Creek. Lakeside Park opened to the public in 1895. At first, the park offered only bathing and boating. Although the bath house had not been built yet, Rogers ordered three dozen bathing suits to rent to bathers. July 4, 1896 brought over 10,000 people to Lakeside to celebrate. Due to severe overcrowding of the trolleys, conductors removed the footboards so as to prevent them breaking under the extra weight of all the standing customers. The high passenger count that day resulted in a "genuine avalanche of nickels. " Each pea green-and-yellow trolley bore a feminine name-Henrietta, Juliana, Iriana, Juanita. Residents of Carthage rode the White Line 8 miles to Lakeside. From Joplin, pleasure-seekers boarded at 4th & Main and rode to Allen Street in Webb City. From there, they rode to Fountain Street in Carterville, then on to Lakeside Park, for a total of 10 miles. Fares averaged 1 ¼ cent per mile; therefore, a round trip from Joplin to Lakeside cost 25 cents. Patrons paid no entrance fee at the park, just the trolley fare to get there and back. They purchased their tickets at area drugstores. Cars ran every 30 minutes, from 6:17 a.m. until 11:17 p.m. The Southwest Missouri Electric Railway also offered chartered rail cars to Lakeside for special groups-parties, Sunday schools, clubs, etc. Round-trip prices per rail car, which held 50 adults, depended on the point of origin-for example, $10 from Carthage, $5 from Prosperity, $10 from Duenweg, $5 from Webb City/Carterville, $10 from Oronogo, $15 from Alba and Purcell, $12.50 from Joplin, and $15 from Galena.

Lakeside's leading feature, the Double Figure 8, replicated the famous scenic railway at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The roller coaster's operator, Fritz Letkus, became something of a celebrity in his own right. Although Lakeside's developers obviously spared no expense in providing endless ways to separate people from their cash, they tried to gloss over that aspect. Their brochure states that "one is not compelled to spend money right and left for catch-penny devices. It is absolutely and essentially a pleasure park, and not a collection of money spending devices. " Unbelievable crowds crammed into Lakeside on holidays, especially on July 4, when an estimated 40,000-50,000 people arrived. The Southwest Missouri Electric Railway Company ran as many as 150 trolley cars to keep up with the demand.

CREDITS: EXCERPTS: Joplin City Library