Photos around Cape Archives

April 18, 2013May 9, 2016

Alice Godwin at Cape Airport

I shot Alice Godwin at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport on April 12, 1967, but I can’t find the story that I know ran. I looked at every Missourian over a three-week period and couldn’t find a single word about her or why she was putting a plaque in a showcase.

For what it’s worth, this is a nice portrait of a woman in a cockpit. I’m sure I didn’t use fill flash, so I must have gotten lucky with an overcast sky that kept it from being too contrasty.

Not-bad plaque picture

If you have to shoot a cliche picture, you might as well do it well. This is better than average. I just wish I could read what the plaque says.

Like Terry Eiler, my Magazine and Newspaper Photography instructor wrote across one of my college assignments, “Congratulations. You are now a better than average hack.”

First thought was Powder Puff Derby

My first thought was maybe this might have been related to when the Powder Puff Derby came to Cape in 1966, but I couldn’t confirm it.

Here are some aviation stories from over the years.

[Editor’s note: I originally identified this woman as Alice Higgins, but David Seesing set me straight: “The lady in the photo is Alice Godwin wife of John Godwin. John and J.T. Seesing owned Cape Central Airways. Alice and John competed and won numerous aviation competitions. I have since updated the post.]

April 16, 2013

Independence Traffic Jam

Yes, children, we had traffic jams in Cape in The Old Days. I shot this one on Independence looking toward Kingshighway on the same day I shot the demolition of the St. Charles Hotel, April 13, 1967.

It took some headscratching to figure out where it was taken. The key landmarks were the bridge over Cape LaCroix Creek, the Wiethop Truck Sales sign, the highway sign pointing to Hwy 61 and the car dealership way off in the background.

I must have been using my 200mm telephoto lens. That would have accounted for the way everything is compressed and looks closer than it really is.

The only thing that’s still there is Wiethop. Moon Distributing Company and Pollack Hide and Fur, which don’t show at that intersection, are long gone. Harris Motor Company has become Aldi’s. The area off to the right contains Kmart, Schnucks, Walgreen Drugs and some other stores.

And, that traffic-jammed two-lane road has become four lanes with a suicide center turn lane.

April 15, 2013February 27, 2015

Razing St. Charles Hotel

These are a present to the SEMO student working on the Main Street Project who drew the St. Charles Hotel as a subject.

These photos were taken April 13, 1967, when it was all over for the historic hotel used as General Grant’s HQ during the Civil War.

Businesses to the south

I tried to read the painted sign on the building south of the hotel, but I can’t quite make it out. It might be Sherman’s.

The City Directory lists Irvin’s Clothing at 39 North Main. That would be the vertical black sign with the white letters. Below it is a sign advertising Arrow Shirts. That could belong to Irvin’s or it might be for Main Street Clothing, which was at 35 North Main in 1968. Dolly’s Hat Shop was in the directory at 37 North Main.

Personal Finance Loans was at 31 North Main. You can see its sign. The directory lists Tony’s Jewelry and Thrift at the same address. The Sweet Shop was at 33 North Main, but I can’t see a sign for that business.

Sterling Variety Store was 41 North Main

The building that replaced the hotel was Sterling Variety Store, and it’s listed at 41 North Main.

Across the street you can see Lee Optical and Co-Op Drugs. I assume the Budweiser sign marks Cowboy’s Tavern.

St. Charles a month earlier

I took this picture of the St. Charles waiting for the wrecking ball on March 11, 1967. You can see more photos and read some history of the hotel here.

April 14, 2013

Ivan McLain’s Birthday Party

Hanging around cop shops was a good way get to know the men and women with badges before you ran into them as strangers at a spot news scene where confrontations could escalate. Besides, it was always fun to exchange war stories.

Dispatchers, in particular, could be your best friend. They could sometimes both follow the letter of their orders and still be helpful. “The captain said if you called to tell you that there is nothing going on at 101 Main Street. Got that?” I spent a lot of time at the Cape County Sheriff’s office in Jackson. Part of that was because it was across the courthouse square from The Jackson Pioneer, and partly because Deputy Jon Knehans and I became friends while taking some SEMO classes together.

That might have been why I was around when Sheriff Ivan McLain was the target of a surprise birthday party. None of these photos ran in The Missourian, so I was either tipped off about the party or I just happened to be lurking there.

Always a nice guy

The sheriff showed extraordinary patience to a green reporter. He always took the time to answer my questions and never, so far as I knew, lied to me. I photographed him on a number of occasions, including demonstrating lie detectors techniques to students.

Jon Knehans for sure

I recognize some of the faces in the pictures, but Jon is the only one I can ID for sure.

Ivan McLain died Feb. 22, 2013

I was sorry to find his obituary in The Missourian.

Ivan Ernest McLain, 82, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, at Saint Francis Medical Center. He was born June 1, 1930, in Oriole to Monroe and Myrtle Comer McLain.

Ivan was a veteran of the Korean War, serving in the Navy. He and Betty Lois Jauch were married June 19, 1954, at Oriole.

Sheriff from 1966 to 1977

Mr. McLain worked for the Cape Girardeau Police Department from September 1955 to November 1966 and was sheriff of Cape Girardeau County from November 1966 to January 1977. He was in real estate sales from 1977 to 1980 and worked at the Gene Rhodes Oil Co. from 1980 to 1983.

Ivan was chief of police in Chaffee, Mo., from 1983 to 1992. He retired from Wal-Mart after being a greeter from June 1992 to December 2010.

A member of VFW

He was a member of the Cape County Cowboy Church and attended Red Star Baptist Church. He also was a member of the VFW Post 3127 in Chaffee.

Survivors

Survivors include his wife, Betty Lois McLain of Cape Girardeau; sons Ivan (Aida) Santos of Grand Prairie, Texas, and Randy (Judy) McLain of Cape Girardeau; daughters Cathy Proffer of Advance, Mo., and Penny (Curt) Johns of Jackson; a brother, Jack (Jean) McLain of Cape Girardeau; sisters, Carrie Wilhelm of Mount Dora, Fla., and Mary Wissmann of Cape Girardeau; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, seven brothers, two sisters and two grandsons, Rusty Watson and Colin McLain.