Photos around Cape Archives

April 30, 2014April 30, 2014

Juden School Established 1854

Niece Laurie Evertt of Annie Laurie’s Antiques fame, said someone came into the store asking for information about Juden School. I admitted that I had heard of it, but had never shot any photos there.

I pretty much forgot about it until Monday afternoon while I was on a ramble with Buddy Dick McClard. I’m not sure how the topic came up, but Dick volunteered that the school was just down the road from his house.

School closed in 1960

News clippings say the school, which was established in 1854, was closed when the Nell Holcomb R-4 School District was created in 1960.

It has had a variety of uses since then. I saw references to art exhibits, an animal feed store and an antique store.

If you’re looking for it, it’s at 900 West Cape Rock Drive, on the corner of Cape Rock and County Road 635. [Editor’s note: I said it was at the intersection of 643 earlier. I was only half-way correct. Cape Rock Drive is 643. The intersection is 643 and 635.]

April 29, 2014

SEMO at Night

I had to do a quick honk ‘n’ wave trip to St. Louis to get something from Brother Mark; then I had to talk Wife Lila through a computer issue. On the way over to Sis-in-Law Marty’s house to break the news that an error message means that her hard drive is terminal, I stopped off to wish Altenburg Museum Director Carla Jordan a safe trip to Baxter Springs to help out in the aftermath of the tornado there. Her family is OK, but there are a lot of people who need support.

So, that meant I was scrambling for something to post. When in doubt, go cruising in the dark.

Kent Library is celebrating its 75th Anniversary. Mary Christy asked if she could use some of my pictures from the 1960s on the library celebration Facebook page, so the library has been on my mind.

True confession time: I couldn’t find a place to park, so I put on the four-way flashers and knocked off a few frames of Kent Library and Academic Hall. I didn’t even bother to set up a tripod or deal with the funky color balance.

Academic Hall still impressive

If I had taken more time to work on the exposure, you would have been able to see the new dome better.

I was afraid I’d get caught parking illegally, which might mean being incarcerated in the Advanced Wrestling class I was supposed to attend when all the other PE electives were full in 1966. I think my decision to transfer to Ohio University was done less because they had a good photo program, than because they didn’t require PE.

A building with clean, strong lines

I appreciate the clean, strong lines of Academic Hall. It looks the way a public building SHOULD look.

Click on any photo to make it larger.

April 28, 2014May 22, 2021

Pleasant Hill Presbyterian

While we were on our ramble to find the Cape Girardeau Northern Railroad depot in Fruitland, and and being distracted by dandelions, we ended up on 541 east of Hwy 61 on a lane that took us up to the Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church. The door was locked, so I couldn’t go inside.

Church established in 1838

A sign in front of the well-preserved church proclaimed it was established in 1838.

Cemetery dates to 1839

A stone in the cemetery said it was established a year after the church

Visitor register in mailbox

I opened a mailbox marked “Visitors,” expecting to find a brochure or other information about the church. Instead, there was a notebook started in 1990 where visitors could leave messages.

Dialog with the dead

I leafed through a few pages of the molding and watermarked notebook and found that many of the writers had left what could best be described as dialogues with the dead. After awhile, I felt like I was intruding, listening to a private conversation at the next dinner table, and I put the book back.

It was the first time I’ve encountered that.

Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church photo gallery

If you want to know more about the church, Pleasant Hill and Fruitland, James Baughn did a great job of covering those subjects back in 2012. Rather than doing a bunch of cutting and pasting and pretending I was doing research, I encourage you to visit his blog.

Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys or click on the sides of the photos to move through the gallery.

April 26, 2014

Missing Tooth on Broadway

I’ve made a dozen or more trips down Broadway since I’ve been in town without noticing it, but some cleared land at the corner of Broadway and Sunset, just down the hill from Southeast Hospital, finally gave me that “missing tooth” feeling today.

The first person I asked said they hadn’t noticed anything missing, but they normally didn’t drive that way to work. Another said, “I saw something was gone, but I can’t remember what was there.”

While I was shooting this, some workmen showed up to handle erosion control. One of them said the building that was on the corner might have been a dentist’s office at one time, and had been used, he though, for the nursing school before it moved out on William.

Google Streetview showed a fairly large brick building with 1819 on the front of it. The 1968 City Directory lists Dr. Paul G. Wolff, physician and surgeon, at that address.

The worker thought the hospital was going to use the space to construct a new entrance. At least they spared the large tree to the right of the photo (for now). You can click on the photo to make it larger.