Cape Girardeau History and Photos
News photos that have grown whiskers and have become history
Photos taken in and around Cape Girardeau, MO
When I photographed the girls jumping off the Old Appleton bridge in July, I snapped a couple frames of a birdhouse on the north side of Apple Creek.
The yellow flowers against the greenery and the red of the birdhouse support caught my eye.
It wasn’t until I took a closer look tonight that I realized that what I had taken to be wood painted red was probably a piece of the steel off the bridge. It’s gonna take a lot of wind to blow that baby down.
The last time I wrote about 101 North Main it was because it was on the list of the most endangered buildings in Cape Girardeau. I told Mother that I expected it would be a parking lot the next time I hit town. The upper story was leaning out over sidewalk and a big cable looked like it was holding the building together.
I am happy to report that the historic building has been pulled back from the abyss. It’s got a long way to go, but I’m not afraid to walk next to it now. The Common Pleas Courthouse is up the hill on the left and the building that was once Hecht’s Department Store is on the right. You can click on the images to make them larger.
The building has been repaired to the point the restraining cable is no longer needed and the plywood tunnel that protected passersby from possible falling bricks has been removed.
The old building had been the Sturdivant Bank (the oldest bank in Southeast Missouri), the site of Cape’s first long distance phone call, Minnen’s Dress Shop and Cape Wiggery, among other things. Here is more of 101 North Main’s history. Its neighbor, the St. Charles Hotel, home to General Grant in the Civil War, was torn down in 1967.
You might know Steve Mosley several different ways.
He makes frequent reference to the “lime green throne” he occupies on a daily basis at Cape’s Public Library. He was distressed one day to see it occupied by a non-Mosley. On another, he posted a picture of his wife sitting on the throne and claimed he had been “overthrown.”
I took Mother into the library when I was back home so she could get some real help learning how to load library books onto her iPad. That’s when I spotted Steve on The Throne.
Steve counted on his trusty bodyguard in the background and a strong force field generator in the foreground to protect him and his throne, but he never realized just how vulnerable he was.
Had this been a real coup instead of a drill, there would have been a new seat on the throne.
This just goes to prove I can’t (a) pass up taking pictures of deer and (b) writing bad headlines about them.
Buddy Terry Hopkins and I were riding around coming back from our Super Secret Mission to acquire Blue Hole Garden BBQ sauce, when we spotted these deer on what we used to call Old Jackson Road between Cape and Jackson.
You can click on the photos to make them larger. This deer looks like it has a fresh gash across the right flank.
The deer were outside Terry’s window, so I pulled as far off the road as I could and rolled his glass down. He’s lucky I was shooting with my camera and telephoto zoom instead of a gun. He’d be deaf and probably missing part of his nose otherwise.
Terry’s Hawaiian shirt must have offended them, because they didn’t stick around long.
With a final flick of a white tail, they were gone.
We saw deer on at least three residential streets on our meanderings that day. I don’t think we EVER saw one in town when I was a kid. Of course, in those days, we weren’t IN town. We were still outside the city limits.
With equally bad headlines.