Photos around Cape Archives

December 20, 2014

Fred McLard’s Log Cabin

Class of ’66 buddy Dick McClard and I were driving around after trying to locate the mass grave from the steamboat The Stonewall near Neely’s Landing this spring. We think we’re getting close, but it’s going to take some more looking.

Anyway, he suggested we go see Fred McLard’s log cabin. (That’s not a typo: those folks never could get the spelling of their names right. They answer to McClard, McLard, McLaird and MacLaird, among other things.) Dick’s on the left, Fred’s on the right.

Cabin lives inside barn

At some point long ago, a barn was built around the log cabin. The farm is across the street from the New Bethel Church, close to the intersection of County Roads 532 and 525. It’s on private property, but Fred’s a nice guy and would probably give you permission to take a look if you knocked on his door.

The view across the fields from his house is just short of spectacular, too.

Photo gallery

Here are some detail shots of the cabin. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move around.

December 19, 2014December 19, 2014

347 North Pacific Street

The building at 347 North Pacific was purchased by Southeast Missouri State University in 1980, but I’ll always remember it as Dorington Apartments, the place where Carol Klarsfeld lived.

Carol was a tiny little thing who was always up for an adventure. There was a tale that she put more miles on her mother’s car than she was supposed to. Having a logical mind, she thought, “The speedometer counts up when the car is going forward, so it should count backward if the car is going in reverse.”

The prospect of driving many miles in reverse didn’t seem practical, so she jacked up the rear of the car, put it in gear and gunned it. Her logical skills far surpassed her mechanical skills unfortunately. In the story I heard, the jack slipped and the car took off at high speed in reverse.

When she and her mother moved from a ranch house to the Dorington Apartments, Carol was afraid that her neighbors would keep an eye on her and rat her out if she came in late or engaged in other shenanigans. She quickly found out that apartment dwellers are more anonymous than people who live in houses.

History of 437 North Pacific

I wasn’t able to find out when Carol’s apartment was built, but a search through Missourian archives turned up information about some of the people who lived at that address, most notably R.B. Potashnick and his family. Here’s a sampling of stories. Longer one contain links for more information.

January 29, 1926 – Mrs. C.W. Stehr is confined to her home suffering from injuries received when she fell on the ice in front of her home, 347 North Pacific Street, her right wrist broken in two places.
October 19, 1926 – Mrs. Farnham Clark, who has been visiting Miss Lucille Buck of 347 North Pacific for several days, left today for her home in Menoninee, Wis.
August 11, 1931 – Miss Lucille Bock and Herbert Bock, 347 North Pacific, left today for a motor trip to New Orleans and other points in the South.
October 24, 1932 – Miss Marie Kinder, 343 North Pacific Street, and Robert Richards, 347 North Pacific Street, spend several days with friends in LaSalle, Ill. Mr. Richards also transacted business while away. (There’s another brief that says “Almost every night the young people of Cape Girardeau are driving out Sprigg Street to Blue Hole for delicious sandwiches and soft drinks.”)

Why we vaccinate kids today

January 31, 1934 – Today’s contagious disease list in Cape Girardeau contained nine new names, eight measles cases and one of chicken pox being reported to City Health Officer Henry Haman, Jr. The measles cases are Mason Martin, Red Star suburb; David Phillipson, 228 North Frederick Street; Bobby Johnson, 545 South Benton Street; Jimmy Bauerle, 916 Good Hope Street; David Samuels, 123 North Spanish Street; Mary Potashnick, 347 North Pacific Street; Bobby Adams, Perryville Road; and Landess Mills, 102 North Ellis Street. Virginia Hughes, 118 North Frederick Street, has chicken pox.
June 14, 1938 – Mr. and Mrs. R.B. Potashnick, daughters Mary and Ann, 347 North Pacific Street, Mrs. Ben Vinyard, 322 North Pacific Street, Mrs. Geraldine Young, 331 Bellvue Street, and Don Black, 316 Bellvue Street, spent Monday in St. Louis and attended the Municipal Opera that night. Mr. Potashnick remained on business.
February 6, 1939 – R.B. Potashnick, a contractor, 347 North Pacific Street, spent the weekend at his home here and returned to St. Louis today on business. Mr. Potashnick last Friday was awarded a contract, aggregating over $414,000 for construction of Rural Electrification Administration project lines in the vicinity of Macon. He was recently given a contract for constructing a similar project in Elsinore and district.
September 13, 1951 – A chauffeur-driven 1950 Cadillac sedan and a 1939 Buick collided at the intersection of Hopper Road and Kingshighway Wednesday. Both automobiles were damaged. The Cadillac was owned by R.B. Potashnick, 347 North Pacific Street, and driven by Joe Nelson of 605 Merriwether Street. The Buick was driven by Ben Seitze, 1514 North Rand Street.
June 8, 1962 – The second fire within 48 hours broke out this morning at the R.B. Potashnick home, 347 North Pacific Street. The original fire caused damage estimated at $75,000 to $100,000. Chief Lewis, commenting on the [first] fire, said when firemen arrived at the house a big hole had already burned through the living room floor and a radiator had fallen through to the basement. Mr. Potashnick, a widely-known contractor whose company has handled many multi-million dollar projects throughout the country, came from St. Louis to survey the damage, but later left for Georgia on business. Mrs. Potashnick was scheduled to arrive from Ohio today.
April 2, 1968 – About $100 in underclothing was stolen from a basement clothesline in an apartment belonging to Mrs. Wayne Nations, 347 North Pacific.
November 14, 1980 – The Dorington Apartments, 347 North Pacific Street, will soon house classes in the SEMO State University’s College of Business. The university purchased the structure this week for just over $300,000.

December 17, 2014

Sides-Miller Men’s Store

Here’s another General Sign Co. sign from Terry’s Hopkins‘ dad’s box of photos. This one is for Sides-Miller Men’s Store at 625 Broadway. It must have been around Christmas time because of the reindeer decoration behind it.

Random news stories

December 6, 1948 – $4000 Loot in Men’s Store Theft – More than $4000 in cash and merchandise was taken from Sides-Miller Men’s Store, 625 Broadway, Saturday night or early Sunday morning by thieves who cut the three-eighths inch iron bars on a rear window and hauled away a 250-pound safe and armloads of men’s wearing apparel, police said today.
July 21, 1949 – Dog Saved Burglary of Store – Sides-Miller men’s store, 625 Broadway, from which burglars stole $4000 in cash and clothing last December 5, was booked a second time by St. Louis thugs last week but a barking dog and heavy iron bars changed the plans, Cape Girardeau police learned Wednesday through written confessions by two St. Louis suspects.
May 13, 1979 – New Sides-Miller – Bulletin-Journal: Sides-Miller Men’s Store, established on Broadway since 1947, has had a change of ownership effective May 1. Larry W. Barnes, a former Girardeau [resident], is the new owner. He and his wife Judi purchased the corporation from Eugene Sides. The name and location of the store will remain the same.
June 10, 1984 – Sides-Miller to close Cape store – Sides-Miller Men’s Store, after 37 years in business is closing out its stock of merchandise, reports Larry Barnes, owner. He said the store, located at 3 West Park Village, will dispose at a special sale all it merchandise during the next 60 days and will not reopen. He stressed that no merchandise in addition to the current inventory will be brought in for the sale. Barnes said his plans for the future are as yet uncertain.
August 17, 2004 – Eugene Sides – Eugene Sides, 91, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Aug. 14, 2004, at the Lutheran Home. He was born Jan. 4, 1913, at Indian Creek, Mo., son of Pearl and Jeffie Abernathy Sides. He and Lucille M. Herbst were married July 8, 1940, in Cape Girardeau. She died Aug. 12, 1994. Mr. Sides owned and operated Sides-Miller Men’s Store on Broadway from 1947 to 1980. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean Conflict. When he returned from Korea, he helped organize Little League baseball in 1952. He was a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, and a member of Abe Stuber Boys. He was a member of Centenary United Methodist Church, past president of Centenary Men’s Club, and was president of Downtown Rotary Club in 1960. Survivors include a son, Ronald E. Sides of Springfield, Ill.; two daughters, Linda S. Craig and Brenda Sides Emerson of St. Louis; a brother, J.O. Sides of Cape Girardeau; a sister, Hazel Schloss of Jackson; and two granddaughters, Alison Sides and Nina Emerson.

December 13, 2014

Benjamin F. Hunter Cabin

If you look off to your right on the way down the lane to the Old McKendree Chapel, you’ll see an old log cabin if the weeds aren’t too high.

Sarah Stephens, wrote her thesis on Benjamin F. Hunter Log Cabin: A Social History Plan in fulfillment of the requirements for the B.S. degree in Historic Preservation in 2008. She did a great job of telling the history of the cabin, which was built outside Sikeston in the mid-1800s, taken apart in the early 1980s, then reconstructed on this site.

Rather than rehash the excellent job she did telling the history of the structure, the family who donated it, the conflicts that tore Southeast Missouri apart during the Civil War and the cabin’s eventual move, I encourage you to follow the link above. There’s something for just about anyone who is interested in the history of this region.

Think the Civil War was tough?

What I found as interesting as the historical notes surrounding the physical structure was the academic in-fighting that went on in determining where it was going to go. The first site was ruled out because it was going to become the Show-Me Center. The next site was ruled out when “the biology department threw a fit because that land was to be a bird sanctuary.”

” Next, they went to the college farm, marked off a site just East of Old McKendree Chapel and set the stakes and flags. Someone else got upset, so they couldn’t have it there. It ended up that they could have the corner of the present site of the house.”

What’s happening now?

I usually make it out to Old McKendree Chapel at least once every visit, and I’ve noted that there hasn’t been a lot of activity at the log cabin in recent years. It looked like the place was being treated with benign neglect.

Ms. Stephens confirms that: “Interest in developing a living history farm and interest in the cabin dwindled as time went on and the work required to maintain the vision became over whelming.

In 1992 the driving force behind the effort, Dr. Arthur Mattingly, retired. Little work was done with the cabin after Mattingly left. Dr. Bonnie Stepenoff continued work on the cabin in the mid 1990s, including repairs on the roof, chinking and daubing the walls, placing a gate around the property, reglazing the windows, and conducting additional student research.

With the closing of the University Farm and the creation of a technology park in conjunction with the extension of East Main Street and a new entrance to Interstate 55 concern over the future of the cabin surfaced again. The Historic Preservation program along with the University Foundation have begun working to give the log cabin another chance. Finances remain the main issue with working with the house.

The future of the B.F. Hunter log cabin is uncertain, but with renewed interest and funding available the log cabin may be able to serve as a learning tool for preservation students and maybe one day for the community. The one lesson the B.F. Hunter log cabin has taught the University is the need to have long term goals which can be a reality.

Editor’s note: I don’t think Southeast Missouri State College has learned that lesson yet. The institution seems to be better at destroying historic landmarks than preserving them.