Cape IT director Eric McGowen, a reader, asked if I’d like to see the Jackson Courthouse and the Common Pleas Courthouse from top to bottom – bell towers to dungeon. Do bears squat in the woods? You bet.
Bright and early (for me), Friend Shari came down from St. Louis to carry lights and tripods, and we met up with Eric and Don McQuay, public works director. I’ll post the courthouse pictures later.
What we ran across was almost neater than the landmark buildings. In the basement of the Common Pleas Courthouse hung three framed prints. As soon as I saw the round shape, I knew immediately that it was on the few photos of Pfisters I’ve seen.
This is a section of the photo showing the Broadway – Kingway split just west of Kingshighway. Click on the photos to make them larger. I made them a little bigger than usual, so they may take a few extra seconds to load.
A wider shot
This is the uncropped version. The Broadway – Kingsway split is at the bottom right. The next street to the left is Clark. The curved one is Thilenius. Central High School is at the top right. Franklin School is at the top left.
I used a polarizing filter to cut as much glare as I could, but there’s still some left. There was nothing on the photos to indicate who might have taken them.
Central High School
This is an enlargement of the Central High School area. It looks like the school might still be under construction, which would mean the picture was taken sometime around 1952 or 1953. The first classes were held there in 1953.
Franklin School is at the top left. The Grace United Methodist Church hasn’t been built yet. I’m not even sure that the streets are paved. Caruthers Avenue, especially in front of the school, doesn’t look like it. Themis Street has some gaps between houses.
2011 aerial photo of Central High
It’s a junior high school now, but to me it’ll always be Central High School. I didn’t have one taken from the same direction as the 50’s photo. This is looking southeast to northwest, diagonally opposite of the older picture.
Caruthers and Independence is on the lower left. The long, red building in the middle of the top of the picture is where Pfisters would have been. Grace United Methodist Church is on the right, near the intersection of Caruthers and Broadway.
1,396 pumpkins on the lawn, take one down, pass it around, 1,395 pumpkins on the lawn.
The pumpkins come from an Indian reservation in New Mexico and are raised for a wide variety of churches and charitable organizations. The growers set the price based on size and the organizations get a percentage of the sale money. They don’t have to pay for any that go unsold. Anything left over after Halloween are destined for an Illinois hog farm, I was told by Marilyn and Barb Kinsey. The Patch has been selling pumpkins for about a dozen years.
