Cape Girardeau History and Photos

October 28, 2011

Cardinals and Marlins – What a Difference

When Brother-in-Law Don Riley and I went to the Cardinals – Marlins Spring Training Opening Day in Jupiter, Fla., on a sunny February day, we wouldn’t have predicted that one team would end up the World Champs and the other would be in last place in their division.

(In case you’ve been sleeping, it was the St. Louis Cardinals who won big in the seventh game in one of the most exciting series I can recall watching.)

Click on the photos to make them larger. Maybe you can spot David Freese, I couldn’t.

LaRussa’s autograph

I wonder if this kid held onto the ball Tony LaRussa signed for him and if he got to stay up late to watch the Series. I hope so.

Did They Open the Time Capsule?

It was a pretty, if chilly, day in Cape, so Missourian reporter Melissa Miller and I decided to walk from the paper downtown to lunch by cutting through the Common Pleas Courthouse grounds and walking down (and up) 55 steps (plus landings). I won the honor by being the 100th person to “Like” her Facebook page. (Here’s how I know it was 55 steps.)

It was a pleasure meeting her after exchanging email and FB messages. It was a bit of a downer, though, when the cashier asked if I was her dad, but I suppose that’s better than being asked if I was her grandfather.

On the way back to the office, I looked around at all of the markers and memorials that I had never paid attention to before.

Research or nap?

This one is a marks a time capsule right next to the west foundation of the courthouse:

SESQUICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
CAPE GIRARDEAU MO
AUG. 19 – 25, 1956
OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS AND OTHER RECORDS TO BE OPENED DURING BICENTENNIAL YR 2006

My interest was piqued. What was in the time capsule from 1956? Did they open it in 2006? I did a cursory search of Cape Bicentennial events in 2006 and saw no mention of it. As the afternoon went on, I had to make a choice: continue my research or take a nap. Nap won out. I’ll let someone else tell me if it was opened.

Cardinals to name Mother MVP

You’ll read about the other courthouse markers and memorials later. I couldn’t edit photos, do research and write copy with the Cardinals playing like they did in Game 6. I decided to call it a night after that last homer.

I’m waiting to open the door any minute though, and be visited by a plague of sportswriters carrying a big trophy naming Mother Most Valuable Player. When I took a break, I found her dead asleep with the TV blaring basefall. She and the Cardinals were taking the same approach to the game.

Fortunately, she woke up in the bottom of the ninth, and so did The Birds. I made sure to go upstairs and give her a poke every time the Cards came up to bat after that. I hope I can keep her awake for Game 7.

October 27, 2011May 29, 2016

Seventysix – the Town, Not the Trombones

A cold front blew through Cape this afternoon, bringing with it some spotty rain and wind. Hoping that I could get some colorful leaf photos between the clouds, Mother and I headed up to Perry County. We checked in at the Altenburg Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum, then headed over to Tower Rock where the river is low enough to expose an old stone quarry I hope to get to when the skies are sunny. Mother ate her fill of persimmons from our normal spot (and even found another tree down the road).

Then we decided to explore. My GPS said we were headed northwest, but it felt like we were going south to me. Finally, we hit a road where we could go right to the Mississippi River or left to somewhere off the screen. That still didn’t feel right, but I opted to go to the river.

Seventysix or Seventy-Six, take your pick

Right after we got on the road, I said, “I wonder if this is going to take us to Seventysix. I’ve heard about it, but have never been there.” By the way, the town is spelled both Seventy-Six and Seventysix. I’m going with the latter because that’s what the Conservation Department calls it on their display above. I first heard of the town when I was researching what is said to be Missouri’s last train robbery.

After bumping over a railroad track, we came to the river and this marker. We had arrived. Click on the display to see that Severtysix was once a quite sizable town.

River gives, river takes away

Like Wittenberg to the south, the benefits of being on the Mississippi River come with a terrible shortcoming: higher and more frequent floods as man tried to control the waterway. By 1940, the town’s population had dropped to 35 people; in 1957, the Post Office closed. The train depot was also abandoned.

Two sources for more information:

The Missourian’s James Baughn wrote about the town in his blog, which has good directions, a link to a Google map and another link for a Conservation Department map of the area. I’ll send you there to give him a traffic bump and to save me the trouble of duplicating his efforts.
This site has some excellent information about Seventysix, plus some photos. I’ll quibble with a few of his facts (he says Seventysix was the only area Post Office; Wittenberg had a Post office, too), but it’s an interesting read.

Little remains of town today

A few foundations and a railroad spur where the depot used to be are about all that would let you know the town with a curious name ever existed here. By the way, you’ll have to follow one of the links above to find out how the town was named.

Mailbox was worth the trip

On the way out of town, I did a double-take, stopped the car and quickly put it in reverse. This mailbox was worth the drive. It’s not every day that you see a saluting cowboy made out of chains, wearing real cowboy boots and accompanied by his faithful dog.

October 25, 2011September 17, 2015

Ed Unger’s Stylerite Barber Shop

I had pictures of Ed Unger cutting hair as one of my earliest blog posts. I’m not sure which of the shops this was taken in, but the story had some of his background and some good comments from folks who knew him.

Stylerite Barber Shop

After I finished shooting the photos of the Pure Ice Co., I took a cruise by Good Hope. I’ve been meaning to do a spread on the Haarig District, as it’s called, but keep putting if off.

As I walked down the 300 block of South Sprigg looking in the windows of empty shops, I noticed the back door of the old Stylerite Barber shop was open. My feeling is that an open door in an empty building says “Come In” unless there’s a No Trespassing sign next to it.

The 1968 City Directory lists Edwin Unger’s name under the Stylerite, so this must have been his shop in that era.

Stepping back in time

As it turned out, luck was with me. Just as I got behind the building, a guy pulled in with a long ladder and I offered to help him unload it. (Declined, by the way.) We got to talking and it turned out he owns 329 Good Hope and the buildings in the 300 block of Sprigg, including my target at 312.

Even better, he removed a chain that would have kept me out and said to “have at it. Just lock it up when you’re done.”

As I stood in the barber shop taking this self portrait, I wondered if I had looked into that very mirror when I was the age of the kid on the booster seat. Dad had an office upstairs in the old Farmers and Merchants Bank across the street, so Ed was probably our barber of choice for convenience sake.

Recessive art gene comes out

I never had never been out the back door, so I didn’t know there was what appears to be a concrete patio behind the building. The warm colors of the shop, the neat tones of the old tin, the cool textures brought out the art geek in me. It’s a recessive gene, so it doesn’t show often.

Stylerite Barber Shop photo gallery

Here’s a collection of photos taken in and around the Stylerite. We’ll look at the other buildings in Haarig another time. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.