Take the Silver Beach Amusement Park, for instance. The park was built by two enterprising gentlemen named Logan Drake and Louis D. Wallace. The businessmen came together in 1891 to create a boat livery. Little by little, along the shores of Lake Michigan in the town of St. Joseph, Silver Beach Amusement Park was born. Life was simpler then, no great contracts to draw up, no human resources department to hire workers, they were happy with their first year profit of $6.50. Deals were made with trust and a handshake, workers were told to have fun. And they did and came to work with a smile each day. It didn't take long for the partners to build a boardwalk where couples could court each other, and a beach area where families could swim and picnic.
Eventually they added a carousel, concession stands, and the standard amusement park fare of the day. Silver Beach became the go-to place for 80 years of family togetherness where deals were sealed with trust and a handshake. Drake and Wallace died in the mid-1940s with family taking over until the violence of the late sixties filtered into the park and police closed it in 1970.
Read the detailed history of Silver Beach Amusement Park here - http://www.swmidirectory.org/History_of_Silver_Beach_Amusement_Park.html
