Photos around Cape Archives

October 30, 2013October 30, 2013

Holy Halloween!!!

I have often thought each individual should be allocated a finite number of exclamation points on birth. When they are all used up, you’re done. That should make you use them wisely.

Well, when Mother suggested we turn down Brookwood Drive instead of up Janet so we could see some Halloween decorations, I humored her.

WOW!!!

We have whole neighborhoods in Florida who go to wretched excess putting up Christmas decorations, but this has to be the Halloween decoration of all time WOW!!!

I consider these exclamation points well-spent. (Click to make the photos larger.)

I don’t know who the Groves are, but I tip my cap to you for a job well overdone.

P.S. Friend Carol, when I asked you to help me find decorations in Athens earlier, THIS is what I had in mind.

October 20, 2013February 23, 2015

Kage School Then and Now

I photographed Kage School just before it closed in 1966, after 112 years of service. Here is what it looked like then. Follow this link to read the amazing history of this progressive school.

47 years later

One of my readers mentioned that they had been inside the school and had been disappointed at its condition. I made a quick stop and found that it was rough, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had expected. This shot was taken from just about the same spot at the 1966 photo. It’s funny how much bigger the room felt with kids in it.

Is it haunted?

There are two questions I get asked a lot: “Is it haunted?” “Is there a tunnel leading down to the river as part of the Underground Railroad?”

I can pretty much always answer the latter as “No.” The jury is out on the first question. I don’t know about “haunts,” but I can feel some kind of spirits or vibes in some buildings. It’s probably my overactive imagination, but something triggers a reaction that I hope is reflected in some of my photos.

More often than not, I wonder about the people who passed through the buildings. Who, for example, was the last child to write addition tables on this board before the door was closed for the last time?

Every once in awhile, not often, a building will hit me stronger than I like.

Why this and not that?

Why would someone leave behind a roll of toilet paper or some tiny bowls?

Flash cards, books and bingo cards

The kids who used these items have grandkids and maybe great-grandkids today. I wonder if they are some of the ones who carved their names in the bricks in the back of the school?

Earlier Kage School stories

Kage School photo gallery

Here are photos of the interior of the school. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the sides to move through the gallery.

October 19, 2013

St. Francis Addition

It seems like every time I come to Cape the hospitals are getting bigger.

Wife Lila thought I needed new shoes.

(The old ones were only four years old. I had to admit that the right one felt somewhat uncomfortable, but then I found the problem was a nail that had gone all the way through the sole and insole and was sticking up about 1/16 of an inch into the footbed. I tried to convince her that taking out the nail would make them perfectly serviceable for another four years, but she disagreed. For what it’s worth, my old Red Wing work boots would have shrugged that nail off like nobody’s business.)

Anyway, on the way to the shoe emporium, I saw that another big piece of St. Francis Hospital had jumped out of the ground since my last visit.

$127 Million project

When I photographed the site in February, I found a Missourian story that said this was part of a $127 million expansion and renovation project.

Earlier St. Francis stories

October 18, 2013February 20, 2015

View of Seminary Lost

Wife Lila wanted to go to the Mississippi River overlook that used to be the traffic bridge. Along the way, we saw that not only had the historic handball courts been demolished, but that the beautiful view of the St. Vincent’s Seminary was also being lost. Sorry for the quality of the photo: it was the wrong time of day to shoot in that direction.

This is what you used to see

This nice, peaceful green space is what used to welcome you to Cape when you crossed the bridge.

Here’s what is going up

You’ll never know what the old seminary looked like from the south side. Let’s hear it for SEMO’s historic preservation program.

Category: Photos around Cape