Photos around Cape Archives

March 7, 2013March 7, 2013

Academic Hall Gets New Hat

Academic Hall has been undergoing some major fixing. Surprisingly enough, the university hasn’t used “structural problems” as an excuse to tear down the iconic building as they seem so prone to do with other Cape landmarks.

Here’s a view of the dome from the north, looking south. You don’t often see it from this side.

Academic Hall Stories

Missourian webmaster James Baughn offers this information on Academic Hall.
Academic Hall in 1966 and 2011
Fred Lynch had a photo of the dome with scaffolding around it.
Dome reconstruction starts
Vintage and current SEMO aerials and photos
1966 Outstanding Seniors in front of Academic Hall

March 7, 2013March 7, 2013

Barn on Hwy 74

I’ve passed this barn hundreds of times, and every time I’ve wondered if it would still be there the next time I was driving Hwy 74 between Cape and Dutchtown. I guess it must be made of some strong stuff, because it’s still standing.

Still, I pulled off the road “just in case” a spring storms would be The One. As I looked at the photos, it dawned on me that one of these days old wooden barns will be as scarce as covered bridges. New, modern steel buildings are fast to put up, cheap to build and are efficient, but you can’t beat an old barn for aesthetics.

If it had been summer, I’d have stopped to ask the owner if I could wander around. My desire to make art diminishes in direct proportion to the wind chill, so I was content to shoot these pictures from the roadside.

Barn photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.

March 5, 2013

Wildwood – Home of Presidents

I remember the home of SEMO’s presidents as an imposing white structure located on the college farm well away from other campus buildings.

Between snowflakes on Saturday, I decided to cruise around campus to see if it was still there or if the university had turned it into a parking lot.

When I came to a small lane with a white house at the end of it, I couldn’t believe THAT could be the building I was thinking about. It was way too small and ordinary looking.

It didn’t SAY “No Trespassing”

At the top of a lane – I found out it was “Wildwood Street” on Google Maps – was a sign, “Dead End – Private Residence.” Well, it didn’t come right out and say “No Trespassing,” plus I have Florida license tags. A gray beard and Florida tags will get you out of a lot of sticky situations.

I drove down close enough to get a shot, then decided “in for a penny, in for a pound” and kept going rather than try to back up the narrow road. I intended to turn around and go back the way I came in, but I saw another lane going off to the left.

Wildwood looks larger from the back

The sign lied: it WASN’T a dead end. It curved around and tied in with New Madrid Street, giving a view from the back that shows how the building has expanded since it was built in the early 1800s

SEMO’s website has a good history of the house, used by eight presidents since 1924. The last two presidents have elected to live elsewhere.

March 2, 2013February 28, 2022

A House in Haarig

I love prowling alleys. You can find the most interesting things. Mother and I stumbled onto this old house between Good Hope and Morgan Oak Streets. It was 615 of some street that wasn’t identified in Google Maps, so I’m going to assume that it was an unnamed alley.

I must have missed it before because of all the foliage that grows up around it when the weather is warm.

UPDATE: This was Shinbone alley

You can read a little of the history of Shinbone Alley in this 2007 Missourian story (and see a Fred Lynch photo of the same house).

Not in the National Register area

It’s technically not in the official Haarig Commercial District National Register of Historic Places – comprised of a limited number of buildings in the 600 block of Good Hope Street and the 300 block of South Sprigg street – but it is still in the area that most of us would consider Haarig.

If you are not familiar with the term “Haarig,” I’ll point you to the National Register of Historic Places application. It will tell you all about this small German settlement inside Cape Girardeau.

2018 Update: The house is gone

When I cruised down Shinbone Alley on May 15, 2018, all that was left of the old yellow house was a vacant lot.

Earlier posts about Good Hope and Haarig

Old house photo gallery

Here are some other shots of the old house. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery. If you have any information about the house, please chime in.