A look at the past, present and future of St. Joseph’s oxbow lake, Lake Contrary

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- Once a bustling amusement destination drawing thousands by streetcar and horseback, Lake Contrary today is but a shadow of its former self, but a dedicated and passionate group is fighting to bring it back.

The Past: ‘Everything you love about Americana’

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Lake Contrary was a popular recreation place that pioneered much of St. Joseph's history.

“It’s everything you love about Americana,” said Jerrad Hardin, who handles visitor experiences at the St. Joseph Museum. “There’s vaudeville, amusements, the transition from electricity to streetcars, swimming, rowboats. Who doesn’t want to get in a rowboat on a nice little lake?”

The lake wasn’t man-made.

It’s an oxbow lake, a pool of water left behind when the Missouri River shifted course.

Oxbow lakes can last anywhere from two years to two centuries, Hardin noted.

“They really weren’t meant to last,” he said. “I think that’s kind of an anecdote about its history.”

At its peak in the 1880s, St. Joseph was one of the wealthiest cities in the United States.

Wealthy families traveled by horse and buggy to the lake until a direct streetcar line arrived in 1899.

Streetcars ran every four minutes in the early 1900s.

The lake offered hotels, cigar rooms, tennis, camping, dancing, food and rowboats.

There was even horse diving, a spectacle where contestants could win $100 if they could dive into the pool with a horse and stay on it.

“Obviously not very fashionable today,” Hardin said.

Beyond the amusements, Lake Contrary played an unexpected role in social change.

The bicycle craze of the 1890s swept through St. Joseph, and the lake was at the center of it.

“Cycling became an approachable sport for women,” Hardin explained. “They get on the bike, realize the dress does not work, so they have to wear shorts. They sort of force a new style for women.”

“This is not well known,” Hardin said, “but there was a bike path from St. Joseph to the lake. You could ride your bike there.”

That push for practicality and freedom on two wheels helped pave the way for the flapper movement of the 1920s.

By the time the Roaring Twenties arrived, women at Lake Contrary were dressing more like men, spearheading a part of the feminist movement.

“You can look at the photos from the lake,” Hardin said. “You can see them definitely wearing those styles. They were advertised in the newspaper.”

The Decline: Floods, changing times and a dried-up dream

Lake Contrary flooded four times. The fourth flood, in 1952, was the last one the lake could take.

“It flooded over the top of the amusement park,” Hardin said. “There were roller coasters, electrical rides. Probably had it not been an electrical amusement park, they could have bounced back like the other three times.”

The streetcar line eventually became a bus line, and service dropped from every four minutes to every 40 minutes.

Then, in the late 1940s, the electric company cut bus routes entirely.

“People had a hard time getting there unless you had an automobile,” Hardin said. “Then it flooded. The appeal was kind of lost.”

The amusement park was sold off in 1964, but the lake remained until it dried up.

Ethel Catron, president of the Lake Contrary Development Association, said she remembers when the lake was still active.

“Ten years ago, they still had the polar plunge down here,” Catron said. “A gentleman had kayaks here for a few years. But then, when it wasn’t kept up, he had to sell and get out.”

Catron described a beach once packed with swimmers, “people as far as the eye could see," and a boating area where residents could launch their vessels.

Now, much of the lake has dried up.

“Three years ago is when it started drying up,” she said. “That’s when we had that terrible drought.”

The Present: Cleanups, relief wells, and a roadblock

Despite the decline, a small group of volunteers refuses to give up.

This past weekend, the Lake Contrary Development Association held its second lake cleanup.

Volunteers filled multiple dumpsters with trash, derelict furniture, and abandoned tires.

“We want our lake back,” Catron said. “When people see dilapidated areas, they don’t want to come down here. We figured if we can at least do a little part, maybe that would give other people incentive to do their part.”

For all the visible progress on the shoreline, Buchanan County Western District Commissioner Ron Hook said there's work going on that isn't visible.

“People think we ought to just be in there digging and doing everything,” Hook said. “But that’s not the reality. Doing something without permission or permits can get you in deep trouble. Number one, I don’t want to be in trouble for it. Number two, you don’t want the county to get a black eye for it either.”

Hook and the county submitted 34 soil samples to the Corps of Engineers, double the number originally requested.

Those samples were approved.

The county also secured permits from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

They sprayed the entire lake from a helicopter to kill invasive cattails and small trees.

Everything seemed ready until the roadblock.

“A week and a half ago, I get a call back from the Corps of Engineers saying that we have six relief wells that are not functioning in the proper state they should be,” Hook said.

There are 34 relief wells along the north shore of Lake Contrary.

Their job is critical, as when the Missouri River rises above 14.5 feet for three days, these wells automatically relieve pressure underneath the levee by channeling water into the lake.

Without the wells functioning properly, the levee could breach, just like it did on the other side of the river in 1993.

“That doesn’t mean they’re not working,” Hook clarified. “It just means the flow isn’t as quick or as good as it should be.”

Hook said the Corps won’t issue the dredging permit until the wells are addressed.

Now, the county is getting bids to repair all six wells.

The big question Hook is working on is: Can dredging happen while the wells are being fixed, or does the county have to wait until every well is fully repaired first?

“We’re trying to work with them to see if we can go ahead and start dredging while the relief wells are getting fixed,” Hook said. “Or do we have to wait?”

Hook doesn't have a timeline for when an answer will be given from the Corps, but he said he's not giving up hope.

“This is the furthest we’ve been in nine years,” Hook said. “And now they bring us another issue. Another roadblock.”

Still, Hook calls the Corps every week.

“We’re going to try to keep on the good side of the Corps of Engineers, because this is the furthest we’ve been in the nine years I’ve been working on it,” he said. “We’re just one permit away.”

Behind the scenes, though, work continues.

During the May cleanup, the county removed 1.6 tons of trash and 78 tires.

The cleanup in the first weekend of June added 107 more tires.

Hook has also arranged for inmates to load a semi-trailer of derelict tires to be hauled to a recycling plant.

“Those tires aren’t going out in the lake,” Hook said. “They aren’t becoming a mosquito haven.”

The county has also demolished uninhabitable trailers around the lake.

“I think we’ve got three left that we’re supposed to be meeting with the landowner about,” Hook said.

The Future: Recreation, safety, and a long road ahead

If the permit comes through, Hook wants work to begin immediately.

“The end goal is to get that lake to be a viable asset to Buchanan County,” Hook said. That means two things: safety and recreation.

First, the relief wells protect the industrial area and homes in the South End.

“If there’s a high water event, those wells release water into the lake and take pressure off the levees,” Hook explained.

Second, recreation. Hook wants people to fish, ride jet skis, drive pontoons, water ski, and, in winter, duck hunting.

Hook said he remains realistic about the lake’s limitations.

“It’s an oxbow lake. If we get to dredging and find out we can only do 150 acres instead of 320, then that’s what we’ll do,” he said. “We’re not going to overexpand.”

Dredging is expensive and time-consuming.

Hook estimates that 100 acres can be dredged eight feet deep in one year. After that comes riprap to prevent erosion, new sand on the beach and new dock systems.

“The life expectancy, we’re hoping, is another 50 to 70 years,” he said.

But there’s a catch: without a regular water source to feed the lake, drying out is inevitable over time.

“It’s an oxbow lake,” Hook admitted. “Unless we get some kind of water source to feed that lake on a regular basis, it might eventually dry out again.”

Worst-case scenario? The Corps could say "no" entirely.

“We could modify it,” Hook said. “There could be some changes. I can’t think of any right now, but you’re either dredging or you’re not. Maybe they’ll allow us to do a small part of the lake, the beach area. I don’t know. We’ll just see what happens.”

Catron hopes to see the lake back in its prime for future generations.

“Nostalgia? Yes, in a way,” she admitted. “But I’d like to see it be nice for future generations. We have such a great asset right in our backyard. People can go to Maryville or Smithville, but this is here. It doesn’t matter if you live on the lake or in town. There’s plenty of parking.”

She pointed to Jasper’s Landing, a fishing area designed specifically to be wheelchair accessible. “There’s no water around it now,” she said. “There aren’t many places that are wheelchair accessible. It’s a win-win.”

“It’s everybody’s responsibility,” she said. “Pick up your own trash. Help out where you can.”

Hook said if everything goes according to expectations, the county could see hard work being done within the next two years, and possibly a finished lake after that.