Cape Girardeau History and Photos
News photos that have grown whiskers and have become history
Photos taken in and around Cape Girardeau, MO
This April 17, 2011, aerial shows just how close to the Natatorium the cement plant’s quarry has advanced over the years. The main section is at its maximum depth and the plant is starting to strip off the overburden on the north and west sides to expand in that direction.
The plant’s manager told me that he’s doing everything he can to keep from taking the tiny plot of ground the old indoor pool sits on. Click on the photo to make it larger.
I’ve worn baseball caps, cowboy hats, firefighter helmets, bike helmets and riot helmets, but I never had a traditional hat like this dandy in the 1934 Girardot is sporting.
My first thought in seeing the ad for Bohnsack’s – “A Clothing Store for Men and Boys” – was that the man with the hat and mustache was Clark Gable. It might have been Gable, but he didn’t REALLY become famous until Gone with the Wind, which hit the screen in 1939, long after the yearbook was published.
Bohnsack’s had become Sherman Ladies Fashions by 1968, and that address was listed as William Brothers’ Curtis Mathis TV, Linens and Gifts in the 1979 City Directory.
The July 7, 1966, Missourian reported that one of the most damaging storms in several years passed through Cape Girardeau in three main sweeps Wednesday afternoon. Several blocks near Broadway and Caruthers and Independence and Pacific became flooded, power lines were downed and trees uprooted.
These Good Samaritans are helping some damsels in distress in front of the Cape Girardeau Surgical Group at 1912 Broadway. Click on the photo to make it large enough to identify the players.
These guys are blasting through water nearly deep enough to submerge the car’s Confederate flag license tag on Broadway in front of Broadway Plaza.
Earlier in the day, children splashed in the water while the traffic signal kept flashing red, yellow and green, but no traffic was passing. One kid was quoted in the paper as saying, “This is the first time I’ve ever been in a pool with traffic lights in it.”
When I called Mother Monday night, she said most of the snow is off the yard, but it’s so full of water that it’s “squishy.” Once we get past the ice and snow stage, the next news from the Midwest will be tornadoes and floods.
These women students at Southeast Missouri State College seem to be taking their field hockey seriously (although there seems to be some informal chatting going on between competitors in a couple of the frames). These were probably taken in 1966ish.
Here are your photos of the players and their fans. The way the spectators are wrapped up, it must have been a chilly afternoon. Click on any picture to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move through the gallery.
