Sunday afternoon I decided to go on an expedition to explore the site of the former Lakeside Park, which is now only accessibly by river. It’s hidden back in the woods, completely overgrown with only a few remnants of what used to be “the” place to be in Joplin.

This place has always fascinated me and I like to walk around and imagine what it was like back in the day. Sometime I should take copies of the old postcards and try to take photos from the exact same angles… another day I suppose.

-click for larger image-As you can see, the river is nice and clear today with lots of nice ‘rapids’.

-click for larger image-The fall colors also made this a particularly enjoyable float.

-click for larger image-Here I am approaching the site. People used to ride the trolley to get here, which I think is cool.

-click for larger image-Here is an old wall. I can imagine a group of dudes a hundred+ years ago sitting here scoping out the ladies.

Here is an old post card. This is cool because at least part of all 3 structures are still around today. The arched bridge, the supports for the bath house, and parts of the dam.

-click for larger image-The only large remaining structure of the park, a long arching bridge that crosses Center Creek and continues deep into the woods, probably at least half a dozen arched sections, if not more.

-click for larger image-Time has not been so kind to the west side of the bridge.

-click for larger image-The river was so nice today! This is looking from the top of the bridge downstream toward my house.

-click for larger image-This is where I was standing when I took the previous pic.

This bridge is long gone but the support posts are still around – however I didn’t get a pic.

This used to be the low dam that held back the small “lake”. People would walk across here and get their feet wet. I have concluded that the roller coaster was located to the southeast of the dam – so it would be in this photo if still standing.

Another random old wall further downstream. I think it’s cool to imagine the people constructing this wall around the turn of the previous century. For decades this place was full of people and good times. Now there is only the sound of the river and the birds.

Sometimes after work when the weather is nice I like to go for a bike ride. Lately my route of choice is to ride up old 66 through carterville and webb city, and then jump on the Frisco trail and ride it to the south end…which ironically is at North Street. It’s about 20 miles and takes an hour and a half if I don’t stop.

I usually plan to stop and enjoy the scenic area near the bridge over Turkey Creek, but I don’t think I ever have. By that point in the ride I am in a groove and just want to keep going. I like the frisco trail a lot and I think it’s a valuable asset to area residents.

I have long been a known opponent to many of the operations of the carterville police department. When I was in high school they were notorious for pulling people over for the most insignificant things. I knew someone who received a ticket for traveling 33 in a 30. Most all of my friends have received tickets at one time or another in the ‘trap’ that is technically inside city limits, but is well outside of the ‘town’. So far I have been lucky enough to escape without any tickets…just a number of incidents where a cop will trail me for several miles outside of town and eventually pull me over for no logical reason, or just turn around and head back to town. At one point it was bad enough that it attracted the attention of local news media.

Anyways… a couple weeks ago I witnessed an ‘incident’ involving the carterville cops that was for once more a source of entertainment to me than irritation. While going out to my garage I noticed a bunch of flashy lights over by the front corner of my yard near the railroad bridge. I don’t really know how to explain what I found when I went over to investigate so I will just show you:

Hmm…what are all those people doing down there?

Is that a carterville cop car???

Yep.

How did this happen???

I still don’t really know exactly what happened, but according to the highway patrol, an officer from nearby carterville was involved in a high speed pursuit with a guy on a motorcycle. Somehow he ended up facing backwards about 40 feet off the road…my guess is he struck the railroad bridge while passing under it and lost control. There were no injuries so I had no remorse in taking lots of photos. There was no word on the whereabouts of the motorcyclist.