There have been a bunch of posts on Facebook recently talking about the old Capaha Park pool. On top of that, I’ve been documenting the slow progress of the pavilion being built on the hill overlooking where the pool used to be.
Buddy Terry Hopkins is back in Cape for a visit, and he sent me photos of what the site looks like today. Terry’s one of those glass-half-full kind of guys, so he added the comment, “Looks like in the future, kids will still be able to enjoy this spot.”
Not quite the same
Being a half-empty kind of guy, I replied, “Not quite the same.”
What stays the same?
Terry doesn’t take the bait, “No, it’s not the same, but what in this world stays the same? A new generation and new memories from the same old place,” he replied.
At least Dinky survived
I’m sure kids will have some fond memories, but I can’t see many of them spending all day hanging around a pavilion like we did the swimming pool.
When your parents dropped you off in the morning to go swimming, they had a reasonable expectation that you were going to be safe, watched over by trained lifeguards in a controlled environment.
When they picked you up at the end of the swimming day, you’d be pruney, reeking of chlorine, starving and ready for bed.
But, looking on the bright side, Dinky, the train, is still there for more generations to climb on.
Being an ‘At least you had a glass’ kinda guy I say, “only you rich kids could afford to go to the pool every day!” The baseball diamond is still there and even grander and more manicured than when we were kids. Of course now its fenced in and kids aren’t allowed to set foot on it! Ba-humbug MagnumPU hopkins!
And how come you’ll post hopkin’s photos against your famous guidelines that “only original STEINHOFF photos posted here!”?
Anyone remember the double slide at Capaha Park? So dangerous.
http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/flynch/entry/36125
Can’t swim in that — and no diving boards either.
Fred, loved that slide. We used to save waxed Bunny bread wrappers to sit on the slides.
It was always fun to watch your buddy go down the slide really slow, then, when he wasn’t looking, you’d take a run with the waxed paper.
When he got on it the next time, it was like he had been shot our of a cannon.
What was amazing was that it would usually only take one pass of the waxed paper, and then each additional one wouldn’t add that much speed.
Ken,
when I was at SEMO in the 60’s, I remember going swimming at Capaha Park. Good memories!
Thanks,
Ceci Sinnwell
Ken, in your last sentence, you mention Dinky, the train. Technically Dinky is a locomotive. A train consists of at least one locomotive and/or a minimum of one rail car with a red marker, a lamp or marking of some sort, at its rear.
This particular locomotive was Marquette Cement #3 at the time it was donated to the city.
Thank you, sir, for keeping me on track.
I don’t want to go off topic, but now that we’re on to trains … Right before my parents got married, this would be 1944 or 1945, my mother was living in Gordonville with her parents and was working at the shoe factory in Jackson. I don’t know why I didn’t ask before, but I finally got around to asking her how she got to work. Apparently, she would catch the train behind Gordonville. There was no shelter, and the train would not stop if no one was seen to be waiting. The fare was 25 cents, which, I guess was OK, since she was making, I believe, 65 cents an hour. I wonder if anyone else remembers ‘commuting’ on that line – , or where the shoe factory in Jackson was ? Mother seems to remember it was not too far a walk from the shoe factory to the station.
Thanks again for the great photos and memories, Ken.
( As a commuter student at SEMO,I remember the stern
warnings that we were NOT to park in Capaha Park, even if our ancestors had cleared the wilderness there.)
Best, Tim
Jeeze, that big slide in Capaha park is a long-lost memory come back to life! The then-new pool was great, especially compared to the old one. As I recall, the old one didn’t even have a filter–the park just re-filled it every Friday. Who remembers the restriction on Thursday?