Cape Girardeau History and Photos

February 5, 2015

Superintendent McClaskey

On September 19, 1968, I ran this photo and the following copy on an Athens Messenger Picture Page: Night Superintendent C.H. McClaskey is not-so-quietly changing the face of Southeastern Ohio while most of us are asleep. Tomorrow (that’s a sneaky way of letting you know that I’m running a two-fer) you’ll see how he and his crew manage to move 15,000 cubic yards of dirt a night at the Highway 33 construction site near Logan.

Maybe it’s because I grew up around construction, but I’ve always liked and felt comfortable around solid men like Superintendent McClaskey. I sense that you would NOT want to get on his bad side. Still, he and his crew seemed to have a good rapport.

Thirsty Dragons Prowl at Night

As promised, the next day’s layout showed night photos of the lights of the heavy-duty scrapers moving dirt from one place to another. I haven’t scanned that film, but I do have a few shots of the workmen. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move through the gallery.

The copy, under the headline, “Thirsty Dragons Prowl at Night,” read, Long before you get close to McClaskey’s giants, you can hear their deep-throated roars and see pairs of eyes cutting through the night. The rubber-tired dragons are thirsty beasts, gulping up over 38,000 gallons of fuel a week moving dirt for a new Highway 33.

It was nice of the executive vice president of the A.J. Baltes construction company to send me a letter after the pieces ran.

February 4, 2015February 4, 2015

Old Charter Billboard

These pictures of the Old Charter billboard atop the Paramount Liquor Company building came out of the box of General Sign Company sign photos loaned to me by Terry Hopkins.

Terry said the huge billboards were made up of individually hand-painted panels that were assembled on frames when they got on site. You can see the seams of the panels in the closeup photos.

Old Charter photo gallery

February 2, 2015

1968 Anti-War Protest

I’m working on an exhibit of photos dealing with the turbulent 60s and 70s at Ohio University. Given the choice between posting random photos as I’m editing them or letting the site go dark from time to time, I’ll opt for posting pictures with minimal copy.

The negative sleeve says February 22, 1968, so I must have shot them for The OU Post.

Must have been cold

It’s Ohio. It’s February, and people are wearing coats, scarves and gloves. That’s a pretty good indication it was being held outside where it was cold.

Must have been one of first

I transferred from SEMO to Ohio University as a junior in the fall of 1967, so this must have been one of the first of many protests and demonstrations I would cover over the next two years.

These three are a mixture of genders and ages. They’re dressed downright preppie, too. They don’t quite fit the image of commie pinko hippies. A lot of the photos from this post will be in the show.

February 1, 2015

History of Wimpy’s Drive-In

This week’s 1960s Tigers Newsletter, produced by Margi and Jerry Whitright, had a note from Rob Lewis (Class of ’69): Rob Lewis — San Antonio, TX – History of Wimpy’s Drive In
My father and his parents bought Wimpy’s in 1942. Here is a brief history and photographs on my family history website.

It’s worth a visit to robsgeneolgyl.com to see photos of Wimpy’s that I had never seen before. It’s also a good place to go if any of the following names are in your family line: Lewis, King,Miller, Clodfelter, Fleming, McNeely, Regenhardt, Stevenson, Theuerkauf or Woodfin.

Earlier stories and photos of Wimpy’s

Stories about Wimpy’s are almost as popular as ones about the Blue Hole BBQ. Here are a few I’ve done over the years.