February 2013

February 21, 2013

Ready for Snow, Ice

By the time most of you read this, we’ll know if these trucks wasted a lot of time and salt Tuesday prepping the roads for what might, or might not, be a big deal.

A Southeast Missourian weather blog summarized the situation:

100% chance of… something

Posted Wednesday, February 20, 2013, at 5:21 PM

The forecast continues to deteriorate, with a “near 100 percent” chance of precipitation now forecast for tomorrow. But what kind of precip? That’s the question.

Earlier forecasts suggested that the temperature would rise above freezing during the afternoon, hitting 34°F or so at Cape Girardeau, and melting any snow/sleet/ice/whatever that accumulated during the morning. In that scenario, Winter Storm “Cupid” would be mostly a non-event.

Now the forecast has dropped a few degrees, projecting that the temperature will hover around 30° or 31° all afternoon. Surprise! That could produce a drastic change in the severity of the storm.

As usual, Southeast Missouri is straddling the dividing line between “no big deal” and “a huge mess.” The official forecast is leaning toward “a huge mess”, but it could go either way:

THURSDAY…A CHANCE OF SNOW AND SLEET POSSIBLY MIXED WITH FREEZING RAIN IN THE MORNING…THEN FREEZING RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATION UP TO 2 INCHES. ICE ACCUMULATION AROUND ONE QUARTER OF AN INCH. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 30S. EAST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION NEAR 100 PERCENT.

When did this become normal?

Snow was a big deal when I was a kid. When did multiple big snows or sleet storms become the norm?

February 20, 2013June 16, 2014

Main Street Project

Katy Beebe, an assistant professor at SEMO, asked if I would speak to her Historical Preservation class February 19. I couldn’t understand why they would be sitting in a classroom listening to me instead of chaining themselves to the handball court landmark the university wants to raze, but…

Dr. Beebe gave her class an assignment to uncover the history behind the buildings on Main Street between Themis and Broadway. Here is YOUR assignment: post comments about any businesses in that area that you can think of. She said she would allow her students to use my musings and your comments as honest to goodness reference material.

To help their research, here is a partial list of stories I’ve done on Main Street. Students here’s a hint: even if the story wasn’t PRIMARILY about your Main Street business, read through the comments anyway. Folks here tend to wander all over the place. Another hint: if you visit a page, then want to see if any new comments have been added, press Ctrl-F5 or whatever you use to refresh your browser. That’ll bring up any new stuff. Don’t be afraid to leave comments or ask questions. All of the folks who placed a comment on a story will get an email if you post something after them.

Buckner-Ragsdale

Whoever drew this business is in luck. It is one of the best-known family-owned businesses in town with a wealth of information readily available. I’ve written about it several times, the Lamkin family has a detailed website and Kathrine Porter Russell Lamkin wrote a riveting account of the 1949 tornado on torn-out pages from a calendar. (By the way, you can click on any of the photos to make them larger.)

101 North Main

The Sturdivant Bank Building has threads to tie it to all kinds of SE MO history.
Chickens in the city

Wrecks on Main Street

Prowling the streets at night gave me a chance to know the “doorshakers” like Jack Burris and to work Main Street crashes

General photos and stories about Main Street

Some of these may be more valuable because of comments than the original story.

Hecht’s Department Store

Considered one of Cape’s finest department stores.

Hecht’s

Where “Poof” ended up

Aerial photos of downtown

I tried to shoot Cape from the air as often as possible

Oddball stuff

Some things defy categorization.

Good reference resources

James Baughn’s Landmark Hunter website
Lost and Saved Landmarks
Cape Girardeau County National Register listings (most of your homework can be done right here)
The Southeast Missourian in Google Archives (use this for a date search)

February 19, 2013

A Rainy Night in Cape Girardeau

Ever wonder why car ads always show wet roads, but it’s never raining? It’s because all the reflections are REALLY neat. This is southbound on Kingshighway south of Broadway. (You can click on the photos to make them larger.)

I had to make a run to UPS to send a thumb drive full of photos to the Athen (OH) Historical Society and Museum. When I stopped by there last month, I left off a bunch of photos I took when I worked in Athens back in the late ’60s and early 70s. Friend Jan and I had barely gotten out of town when curator Jessica Cyders pinged me to ask if I thought it would be possible to put together an exhibit on the Martin Luther King National Day of Mourning I shot in 1968 by February 27 to cap off a Black History Month conference. Since Jessica and Danielle Echols were doing to do most of the heavy lifting, I agreed.

I’m flying out to speak to the group at the end of the month, and I’m busy putting together a show catalog right now. It’s neat that someone thinks my old stuff is worth sharing.

Tuesday I’m supposed to speak to a historical preservation class at Southeast Missouri State University. I threw in a lot of new Cape-specific stuff this afternoon, so what I say is going to be as big a surprise to me as it will be to the class.

Stop light at Pacific and Independence

After I dropped the drive at UPS, I decided I’d drive around looking for rain art. Photographers always thought life was unfair. Reporters did weather stories by calling the weather bureau, digging out clips about the Last Big Storm and, if they could be bothered, looking out the windows. Photographers had to get their shoes muddy.

Old Traffic Bridge

Downtown was kinda blah, so I stopped by what remains of the old Traffic Bridge.

Since I retired, my new contract says that I don’t go hungry, get wet or lift heavy objects. These photos were all taken from inside my van with the heater running.

Haarig or Good Hope

The wind and rain were really whipping from the south when I paused on Good Hope looking west toward Sprigg. It was coming across the road in sheets.

Pacific looking south from SEMO

I figured I’d better scope out where I’m supposed to be presenting Tuesday, so I went up Pacific to the Carnahan Building. On the way back I tried to capture the rain coming up the street and down the hill. These are the times I envy the TV guys with their video. It’s tough to get across the concept of driving rain in a still.

Through the windshield

When an oncoming car lit up the water droplets on the windshield, the camera’s autofocus thought that’s what I wanted to shoot. It’s neat, and I’m glad it happened, but it wasn’t my target.

February 18, 2013December 1, 2015

Mistletoe, Lewis & Clark

Friend Jan would have fit right in with Lewis and Clark. While she was here, we took a run over to Thebes and Cairo. Along the way, she started spotting huge clusters of mistletoe. I noted that she did NOT suggest we get in close proximity to it, particularly in regards to standing underneath it.

Her keen eyes put her in good stead with Lewis and Clark, who noted in their journal that on November 20, 1803, they were near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. “They left from mooring on the Ohio side. They went seven miles, and noted much mistletoe hanging from trees. Lewis noted they had seen even more along the Ohio, increasing toward the mouth of the Ohio.”

Louis Lorimier had a bad day at the track

Nov. 23 – Stopped at Cape Girardeau to see Commandant Louis Lorimier. He found Lorimier at the racetrack. The race was just over and Lorimier was busy for some time settling disputes about the bets. Lorimier lost four horses on the race, worth $200.

Actual money was scarce. Main trading was done using such as horses, worth $50-200, cattle $8-10, cotton $100/ton, lead $80/ton. The settlement had begun eight years earlier and now had more than 1,000 people. Lorimier’s district went from the Grand Bend of the Mississippi north of the confluence, to Apple Creek which forms the north boundary of Cape Girardeau county, and 60 miles westward to the St. Francois River.

Cape people “sober, temperate, laborious and honest”

Nov. 24 – Left Cape Girardeau at 7 a.m. A crewman who had left to go hunting two days earlier hailed them from the other shore and they picked him up. He was much fatigued with wandering, and somewhat indisposed.

“People of Cape Girardeau have uniform character of sober, temperate, laborious and honest. Have erected two grist mills and a saw mill.”

Month: February 2013