Cape Girardeau History and Photos

September 17, 2014

A REAL Highway Patrol Car

THIS is the way a state highway patrol car should look: two-tone paint scheme with a big logo on the side. Fins. Bubble gum machine on the top.

Who cares about aerodynamics when you have a big engine under the hood.

Big mechanical siren bolted to the fender. One that took several seconds to wind up to full volume, then took just as long to die out when it was turned off. That siren didn’t yelp, bleat, burp or play bird songs: it had the voice of authority.

Don’t forget the big 96-inch low-band two-way radio whip antenna that would go thumpa, thumpa thumpa when the vehicle stopped suddenly. Bad guys soon learned that nobody outruns Motorola.

When you look at this car, you think of Broderick Crawford growling, “Two-Fifty-One to Headquarters,” not some chirpy pretty boys like Jon and Ponce on their CHIPs motorcycles worrying if the wind is going to muss their hair.

Yep, this is a car I’d rather see at the SEMO District Fair than in my rearview mirror.

Older stories and photos of Missouri Highway Patrolmen

September 16, 2014

American Motors

I shot these photos of American Motors November 3, 2013, intending to do some research on the business, but I never got around to it. The building was on S. Kingshighway north of the intersection with South Sprigg and the old Viaduct Court. It was south of John’s Metal Iron and Salvage (AKA John’s Junk Yard).

It’s gone now

Mother and I took a quick drive down to Dutchtown Monday afternoon, made a quick turn on the old Highway 61 that leads to the Diversion Channel boat ramp to see how much the Mississippi was backing up into the Big Ditch, then headed north on Kingshighway.

When we got to where these photos were taken, Mother said, “Something’s missing.”

She was right. All that was left of American Motors was the parking lot.

Anybody remember anything about it? I’m sure I was never in there.

September 14, 2014

Pursuing the Wild Pine Cone

The temps in Cape have gotten low enough for enough days that the concrete basement walls are starting to radiate cold. Mother lit the first fire of the season this morning.

I was editing photos all day, so I didn’t know that it had eventually gotten nice outside. The temperatures were mild and there was no wind. I told Mother is was a perfect time to replenish her pine cone supply. (I mentioned last winter how well pine cones work as fire starters.

When we cruised by Jackson City Park earlier in the week, we saw a couple of our regular trees were dropping cones, but they were a lot smaller than last year.

Like an Easter egg hunt

We found a tree down near the river that filled two five-gallon buckets in about 20 minutes. Then, we went looking for a park Brother Mark thought might have some trees. We pulled into a parking spot and hit the mother lode. I started filling my bucket again when I noticed Mother wasn’t in the van.

She didn’t want to be left out of the fun, so she had snatched a bag and a grabber and started working the tree on the other side of the parking spot.

The grabber she’s using is similar to this one on Amazon, but available locally for not much more.

Two 13-gallon bags full

In not more than 20 or 30 minutes of actual picking, we managed to fill two 13-gallon trash bags with fire starters. Based on the number of cones high up in the trees, it looks like there will plenty to last the winter.

I was using a new grabber. I was in Ace Hardware to pick up some odds and ends when I saw a bright yellow whatsit that looked interesting until I saw an $18.99 price tag on it. Then I looked again and it was marked down to either $3.99 or $4.99. The one Mother is using has rubber grippers that would make it better for picking up things off top shelves and doesn’t require as much force to use.

My fancy yellow one would pick up two or three cones at a time and has magnets in the end (which didn’t help with pine cones). It also had an annoying squeak that silicone spray should fix.

September 14, 2014September 14, 2014

Prince Truxton II

When I worked for The Jackson Pioneer across from the courthouse in Jackson, I knew there was a horse in the window of the store just west of us, but I never stopped in to look at it. If you had asked, I’d have told you it was a real stuffed horse.

Mother and I went over to Wib’s BBQ on Friday, and on the way back, I stopped at 131 West Main Street to visit with the old boy. He turned out to be more interesting than I had thought.

Building once housed harness shop

The building on the corner used to house C.H. (Herman) Wolter’s harness shop. You can still see a hint of its sign. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

Pioneer was on the left

The newspaper office was to the left of the yellow building, which now houses the horse and the Gaming Grounds, a video game center. Above the bay window, you can see the date 1898. The horse’s hind end is barely visible to the left of the OPEN sign.

Not easy to see

It’s hard to see the horse from the street because of the sign, and you can’t see it at all from inside the store because it is protected by a wall. The Gaming Ground folks didn’t object when I asked if I could squeeze behind the wall.

History of the horse

There is a reprint of a 1974 Jackson Journal story hanging from the horse’s saddle. It says, in part:

Prince Truxton II, handmade of paper mache and wood frame, was purchased in 1889 from Horse Display Works of Dayton, Ohio. The dapple gray horse stands 16 hands high and weighs some 600 pounds. The mane and tail are of real horse’s hair and the dark brown eyes are made of glass. The tail, chin and ears can be removed to fit a harness onto the horse.

Arriving on a railroad car here in Jackson, the horse cost $125 in 1889, including the railroad delivery charges. Its first home was in the building that housed the Albert Sander Hardware Co. in the Priest Building. The horse was used to fit and display harnesses.

Had encounter with bull

Situated on a platform with rollers, Wolter used to roll the display horse onto the sidewalk in front of the harness shop. One day, a herd of cattle was being driven through town on Main Street to the railroad station, not an uncommon sight in the late 1800s. Suddenly a bull, maddened and upset, charged from the herd and rammed into the horse, pushing it down the sidewalk. Fortunately, the horse remained upright and was not damaged. From that day on, the horse was displayed in the window of the harness shop, a much safer location.

Moved to new home in 1898

In 1898, C.H. Wolter completed a new building for his Harness and Buggy Shop [which explains the date inscribed on the building] further west on Main Street at 131 W. Main, where Leonard’s Seed Center is located today (1974). [I vaguely remember it being a feed store when I was there in the mid-1960s.] The horse was rolled down the hill to its new home and placed in the large front window.

How it became Prince Truxton II

It was not until Jackson’s Sesquicentennial in 1965 that the horse officially received its name. Rebecca McDowell was the winner of the horse-naming contest during the 1965 celebration with the name of Price Truxton II. Miss McDowell, after doing historical research, suggested Prince Truxton II, since Andrew Jackson, for whom the City of Jackson is named, owned a horse called Truxton, which stood 15 hands and 3 inches high. For many years prior to 1965, the horse in the window was simply referred to as Prince.