Electricity brought changes to the country which often included an amusement park at the end of a streetcar line. These trolley parks were built by electric streetcar companies as they searched for and developed a market for the electricity. The parks were meant to encourage the public to utilize the cars and increase electricity consumption over the otherwise slow weekends. For the people of St. Joseph Mo., a summer weekend trip to Lake Contrary meant a ride on an open-air trolley with the warm breeze hitting them in the face, as they rolled along at nine miles an hour toward an earthly paradise known as Lake Contrary.