Name That Bridge

Dennis Scivally Park Photos by James D. McKeown III, courtesy Steven McKeown

About a year ago reader Steve McKeown sent me a selection of family photos taken by his father, James D. McKeown III. I was scrolling through my directory of scanned photos when these photos jumped out – not because the girls are cute, which they are – but because of the Cape landmark they are posing on.

I’m going to bet you’ve had your photo taken on it at some time in your life.

Gallery of McKeown pictures

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery. If you haven’t figured out where these were taken, I’ll give you a hint.

Millikan Motor Company

Old Millikan Motor Co - 221 Independence Street 03-02-2013The two buildings at 221 Independence haven’t changed much over the years. I thought they were where Firestone was located and where Dad worked years and years ago, but Mother said I was wrong about that.

Here’s what the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for the Main-Spanish Commercial Historic District has to say about the property:

221 Independence – These twin Streamline Moderne buildings were built for Jessie Millikan to house the Millikan Motor Co. The eastern building was constructed in 1941 as a showroom and included several garage bays and a paint bay to service the automobiles. The Streamline Moderne style is characterized by the horizontality of the facade which is emphasized by the use of rounded corners, smooth wall surfaces, glass blocks and flat roofs.

West building added in 1950s

Old Millikan Motor Co - 221 Independence Street 03-02-2013To accommodate the growing needs of the company, a twin building with rounded corners, smooth wall surfaces, and glass blocks was constructed to the west in the early 1950s prior to 1955. A driveway runs between the two buildings. In 1996 a residence was added to the rear of the east building and connects to the location of the original paint bay. The addition is not visible from the street.

Little built during ’30s and ’40s

Old Millikan Motor Co - 221 Independence Street 03-02-2013The Haarig Commercial Historical District National Register mentioned the buildings:

Due to the economic constraints of the Great Depression and America’s involvement in World War II, little construction took place in downtown Cape Girardeau during the 1930s and 1940s. The popular Art Deco and Art Moderne styles of this period are limited in the city. A few notable examples include the one-story commercial building at 221 Independence Street. This building was constructed ca. 1935 and reflects the Art Moderne style with a curved corner and structural glass blocks.

We Lost the Handball Court

Handball Court at River Campus 02-12-2013It was appropriate that the first thing and the last thing you would see when you were coming into or leaving Cape by the Mississippi River Traffic Bridge was a religious institution, the St. Vincent’s College, a Catholic Seminary dating back to 1843. I suspect more prayers were said on that bridge than in all the churches in Cape on an Easter Sunday morning.

The first (or last) things you’d notice when looking at St. Vincents were the magnificent trees on the terrace to the east of the school and the curious brick structure in front of it – the handball court.

Goodbye handball court

Handball Court at River Campus 02-12-2013Well, don’t look for the handball court in the future. The Missourian had a story today that dismantling the historic structure began March 12. The court, built in either 1843 or 1853 and possibly the oldest handball court in the country, is being torn apart so the green space where it has lived all these many years can be covered with academic and residential buildings.

Goodbye green space

Handball Court at River Campus 02-12-2013

The loss of the brick court is a disgrace. The loss of the open lawn that gave the College buildings its character is a crime. They could have stacked the buildings they are planning on top of the parking lot to the west and maintained the character of the River Campus.

The biggest joke

Handball Court at River Campus 02-12-2013The biggest cruel joke is that the university and planners are going to honor the handball court by preserving “some” of the bricks and incorporating them into the facade of the new building. Follow the link to the Missourian and you can see the care Milam Masonry is taking in “preserving” the bricks. It looks to me like the workers are heaving them off a scaffolding to land in a truck. I doubt there are workers wearing catcher’s mitts standing down there to catch them.

When I made these photographs Feb. 12, 2013, I was astounded at how many had names and dates intricately scratched into them. There were some seminarians with a lot of time on their hands. What was fascinating was the different printing styles the students used over the years.

Did anyone document the bricks?

Handball Court at River Campus 02-12-2013I wonder if anyone took the time to shoot individual closeups of the bricks before the wreckers got there? You’d think a university with an historic preservation program would have been all over that.

I shot a few of the bricks, but the lighting wasn’t coming from the best direction to capture detail. The 1920s and the 1940s were well-represented.

When I looked at the ones from the ’40s, I wondered how many of those boys were shipped overseas to fight in World War II and whose only markers are a white cross in a foreign land and a name scrawled on a brick in a handball court that is being torn down.

Will the terraces and trees be next?

Handball Court at River Campus 02-12-2013It won’t do any good to cry over spilt bricks. We’ve lost that piece of Cape’s history. Now’s the time to head off turning the terraces and trees into parking lots.See how flat the ground is? Cut down those pesky trees and spread some asphalt and you could fit several hundred cars there.

I mean, after all, they could “preserve” the trees by turning them into commemorative toothpicks.

Earlier River Campus stories

River Campus celebrates 5th season

SEMO plans to erase Cape landmark

Photo gallery of handball court

Some day, someone doing research may come looking for photos of what Cape Girardeau looked like before Southeast Missouri State University bulldozed it. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.

Wildwood – Home of Presidents

Wildwood - SEMO Presidents' home 03-02-2013I remember the home of SEMO’s presidents as an imposing white structure located on the college farm well away from other campus buildings.

Between snowflakes on Saturday, I decided to cruise around campus to see if it was still there or if the university had turned it into a parking lot.

When I came to a small lane with a white house at the end of it, I couldn’t believe THAT could be the building I was thinking about. It was way too small and ordinary looking.

It didn’t SAY “No Trespassing”

Wildwood - SEMO Presidents' home 03-02-2013At the top of a lane – I found out it was “Wildwood Street” on Google Maps – was a sign, “Dead End – Private Residence.” Well, it didn’t come right out and say “No Trespassing,” plus I have Florida license tags. A gray beard and Florida tags will get you out of a lot of sticky situations.

I drove down close enough to get a shot, then decided “in for a penny, in for a pound” and kept going rather than try to back up the narrow road. I intended to turn around and go back the way I came in, but I saw another lane going off to the left.

Wildwood looks larger from the back

Wildwood - SEMO Presidents' home 03-02-2013The sign lied: it WASN’T a dead end. It curved around and tied in with New Madrid Street, giving a view from the back that shows how the building has expanded since it was built in the early 1800s

SEMO’s website has a good history of the house, used by eight presidents since 1924. The last two presidents have elected to live elsewhere.