Photos around Cape Archives

May 15, 2012

Academic Hall Construction

Some things, like SEMO’s Academic Hall never seem to change. This is what it looked like April 15, 2011. You can click on the pictures to make them larger.

Academic Hall 1966ish

Cape Girardeau was a black and white town in the middle ’60s.

Speaking of that, I’ve been talking about sending out a book proposal. I was putting the final touches on it Sunday night (Monday morning deadline, but, of course, I wouldn’t procrastinate) when I noticed that none of the books I had seen by this publisher had any color in them. When I shipped off the package, I asked the editor if they were a black and white publisher only. The sad answer was, yes. Because most of their books are old images from dusty archives, they don’t run color.

I thanked them for considering me, then withdrew my proposal. Looks like it’ll be a little longer before you have a chance to hold something in your hands. It’s gonna happen, but not as soon as I had hoped.

2012 Academic Hall renovation

Brother Mark slowed his car down long enough to snap a few frames of repair work being done at Academic Hall.

Academic Hall terraces

You can see the green terraces that Major James Frances Brooks designed for Louis Houck and that showed up in photos of the 1967 graduation ceremonies.

Terraces from Mother’s scrapbook

Here are the terraces from Mother’s scrapbook. The photo was probably taken in the late ’30s or early 1940s. Note the old car in the shadows.

May 14, 2012

Broadway Construction Project

Brother Mark was down in Cape for Mother’s Day. He’s got an advantage when it comes to jockeying for a favorable position in the will. He’s 125 miles away from Mother; I’m 1,100 miles away.

He jingled the keys and mother hopped in the car to go exploring. Mark stopped long enough to shoot these pictures of the 200 and 300 blocks of Broadway. The city’s embarked on what is either a very good or a very bad idea. They are enlarging the sidewalks on the north side of the street to make the area more attractive to pedestrians (at the expense of parking on that side). Here was the Broadway end-to-end piece I did recently, by the way.

Narrow lanes worry me

We had a West Palm Beach mayor (thankfully, gone) who went on a traffic-calming binge. There were a number of streets that were wide enough that a car could pass my bike without having to cross the centerline while still giving me the legal three feet of clearance. He started choking the lanes with traffic furniture where he didn’t narrow them and added speed humps willy-nilly. By doing that, he made it impossible for a car to pass without going over the centerline, which irritated folks if there was oncoming traffic.

So, if you see me cranking my way up the Broadway hill, just know that I’m going as fast as I can and that it wasn’t MY idea to make the lanes smaller. Oh, and the sidewalk isn’t an option. Bikes don’t belong on sidewalks.

It IS pretty, though.

Brother Mark’s 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. I don’t know why he’s being so nice to me. There’s nothing to put in the will, it’s past his birthday and Christmas is a long time off.

May 11, 2012

Best Newspaper in State

Delta Delta Delta sorority sisters Janet Maurer. left, and Karen Totty embrace at the 1966 Greek Games at Capaha Park. The caption used one of those cliches that always causes my teeth to hurt, “Mid-afternoon rain didn’t dampen the spirits of the of the more than 700 college students who participated in the games and contests.” The Tri-Delts looked like they were going to post their fifth straight win in the annual contest, but the Alpha Chi Omegas won the Go-Go Disco Contest to overcome a two-point deficit.

I’ve got about 150 frames scanned from the Greek Games (including a wardrobe malfunction never noticed before). I’ll get around to posting them one of these days. (Click on any photo to make it larger. This, by the way is NOT the wardrobe malfunction photo, so don’t strain your eyes.)

This shot won first place in the Missouri Press Association contest in 1967 and helped The Missourian win the Golden Cup Award for Best Newspaper in the State.

Best Paper in the State

A window display gave the paper a chance to brag a bit. I still have some of the cool wood and ceramic plaques on my wall. Here’s the story that lists all the details.

Not bad for a college kid

In all, I won two first places (feature photography and news); a second place for sports, and honorable mentions in sports and features. The paper won second place for best use of local pictures. The Youth Page I edited won an honorable mention. My picture of murderer Phillip Odel Clark emerging from a house with a whiskey bottle in one hand and a pistol in the other pointing at the head of newsboy he was holding hostage was judged best news picture of the year.

After that, I had to leave town because that was going to be a tough year to top.

Working on book proposal

I’m under the gun to get a book proposal to a publisher by Monday, so I may have to slack off a couple of days to make the deadline. Interestingly enough, they are less concerned with my ability to produce the content as they are worried that I don’t have enough local ties to Cape Girardeau.

So, does anyone want to stamp my Cape passport?

May 9, 2012

1956 SEMO Homecoming Parade

I’m dipping into Steve McKeown’s stash of photos taken by his dad, James D. McKeown III, to show the 1956 Southeast Missouri State College (now University) Homecoming parade headed down Broadway between Pacific and North West End Blvd.

I’m sure car buffs will enjoy seeing the fancy wheels. Old truck enthusiasts will like the red pickup in the church parking lot.

Trucks supplied by local companies

I see trucks from E.C. Robinson Lumber Co. and Wiethrop Trucking.

Pictures of other Homecoming Parades

1956 Homecoming Parade photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery. Give a round of applause to Steve for providing the photos and to his dad for taking them.