Cape Girardeau History and Photos

September 4, 2011September 18, 2011

Civic Center Holds Sock Hop

The caption for this July 1, 1967, Missourian Youth Page photo reads, “There was fun for swingers and non-swingers alike at the Civic Center’s Sock Hop last weekend. Caught frozen in poses during the “stop the record” dance are, in the foreground, David Vann and his sister, Miss Peggy Vann, both of 437 rear North Middle; behind them are Ronald Conners, 620 LaCruz, and Miss Gwen Sides, 807 Ranney. Miss Sides is chairman of the center’s Youth Council.

(Click on any photo to make it larger.)

Non-swinger Deborah Allen

The photo was paired with this one: “In a quieter corner (but not too far from where the action is), Deborah Allen, wearing a cast on her ankle, catches up on the current gossip with Miss Sylvia Duncan, left, and Miss Evelyn Hardimon.”

Civic Center registration desk

“At the registration desk, James Hughes, left, 1706 South Sprigg, and Lloyd Francis Williams, Vine Street, exchange greetings; Miss Lucille Mosley, 1013 North Middle, signs up Miss Margaret Williams, Vine Street, as a Civic Center member.”

Gwen Sides covered the sock hop

Gwen Sides, chairman of the Civic Center Youth Council, wrote this account of the evening for The Youth Page. [I was editor of The Youth Page and I see some stuff I should have caught. Overall, though, Miss Sides did a much better job covering this story than a lot of our student reporters.]

“You should have been there,” said Miss Joy Jackson, 906 South Ranney.”

“It was a blast,” agreed Miss Brenda Colon, 513 South Frederick.

Their comments came after a membership dance held last Saturday at the Cape Girardeau Civic Center, 1232 South Ranney, by the center’s newly formed Youth Council.

Sock hop without stocking feet

Though it was planned as a sock hop, nobody came in stocking feet – even though Miss Deborah Allen, 920 North Middle, came minus one shoe, with a cast on one leg, hurt in a gym accident at school. She seemed to have a good time, even though she couldn’t join in the dancing.

The dance was designed to get members for the Civic Center, and it succeeded; we now have 72 members.

Street dance and carnival planned

The Youth Council now is making tentative plans for a street dance and carnival to be held later this summmer on the playground area just north of the center. The lot was purchased for the center by Alpha Phi Omega, service fraternity at State College, and has been graded and readied for playground equipment.

At Saturday’s dance, the chaperons were Mr. and Mrs. Ed Mosley, 1013 North Middle. Mrs. Herbert Gaden, 1624 South Sprigg, acting director of the Civic Center, also was in attendance.

Balloons bustin’ out all over

Balloons were bustin’ out all over, as the boys broke balloons tied around the girls’ ankles while they were dancing. Miss Jackson and Jim Clemons, 320 rear South Fountain, won the balloon dance.

After the first dance, couple were “rematched” in a puzzling game – with real puzzles. Girls drew part of a picture from one bowl; the boys drew the other halves of each puzzle from another bowl, then they had to find the holder of the missing half of their picture, who would then be their partner for the next dance. Miss Alice Sides, 919 North Frederick and Robert Estes, 1011 North Middle, were the first to match the puzzles.

Open for 13 through high school

Winners of the “Stop the Record” dance – a variation of the child’s game of “Freeze” – were Miss Vickie Sides, 419 North Street, and Roland Conners, 620 LaCruz, who were able to stop motionless every time the record stopped. This is the first time the group has played games at a dance.

The Civic Center is scheduling a social each Saturday night from 8 to 11. From now on, admittance to the dance will be by membership card only. (The cards are available from Youth Council members or the center director, for 25 cents.) Membership is open to young people from age 13 through the summer after they complete high school. Dress at the dances is casual.

New South Cape blog

I’m not the only one looking at the 1960s in Cape Girardeau. There’s a new blog called South Sprigg Memories, Growing up on the wrong side of town.

Here’s the writer’s description: “Welcome to Sprigg Street Memories! My name is Darla June Franklin. My maiden name was Yow. This blog will be my place to re-live old memories and introduce you to the people who lived near me in the South Sprigg Street neighborhood of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.”

She writes movingly of the culture divide between the black and white communities from the perspective of a white girl growing up in a mixed neighborhood in South Cape in the early days of integration. She offers some interesting perspectives and her column has found its “voice” more quickly than most I’ve read.

I encourage you to stop by. I’m hooked.

September 4, 2011June 23, 2015

Glee – Advance Style

Mother, my harshest critic and biggest whip-cracker, took me to task this morning because I didn’t run pictures of the Advance High School Band with the Advance photos I posted.

I tried to explain that I like to hold some stuff back for a slow day. To keep from getting cut out of the will, though, I thought I’d better feature the band and the 1936-1937 Glee Club.

(I put Glee in the headline, hoping that people who are searching for the TV show might land here by mistake, boosting my traffic stats.)

That’s Mother on the right side, holding a clarinet. (Click on any image to make it larger.)

Southeast Missouri High School Band

In the fall of 1937, students from all over the region and their teachers gathered at the State Teachers College to form the Southeast Missouri High School Band. W.A. Shivelbine from Cape was one of the conductors.

Cape Central was well represented

Much to my surprise, I found out that she was one of only two Advance students listed as playing in the band. She was on the clarinet and Thornton Jenkins played the trombone. Cape Central was well represented by some familiar names.

1937 Glee Club

The 1937 Glee Club doesn’t look particularly gleeful. Mother’s in the front row on the left. “I couldn’t sing,” she confessed.

September 3, 2011June 23, 2015

Advance School Photos from the ’30s

September 3 is the Advance Hornet Alumni Banquet. My grandmother, Elsie Adkins Welch, and my mother, Mary Welch Steinhoff, were Advance High School graduates. Mother was in the Class of 1938. When I was home a few weeks back, she pulled out an old scrapbook I’d never seen before. In honor of the reunion, I’ll throw up some of her class photos. (Click on any photo to make it larger.)

Mother thinks this was her third or fourth grade class. She’s in the front row, third from the right. She recognizes her “fancy” socks. Fern Sample is to her left in the photo; Bonnie Jenkins is on the right.

“I didn’t much like him”

This is a photo with a mixture of classes in it. Mother is fourth from the right in the second row. The teacher in the dark suit at the right was Mr. Tippitt (Tippett?). “I didn’t much like him, she said.

I find the picture interesting from a photography standpoint. If you look at the right-hand size, you can barely make out some words at the edge of the frame. That’s an indication that it was a contact print made from a 5″x7” negative. Most photographs were made on smaller film and then enlarged.

Juniors in 1937

One of the pages in Mother’s Senior Memory Book was labeled Juniors / Seniors. This was the photo associated with juniors. If she was in the Class of 1938, this would have been taken in the 1937 school year. She is in the front row, third from the right.

I really like the girl in the front row, third from the left, with the tie and the mischievous grin.

Class of 1938 – Check out the belt buckles

This is labeled Seniors, so it must be the Class of 1938.

She’s third from the left in the front row. Check out the “A” belt buckles on the two boys standing at the left. The boy in the back row, fourth from the right is sporting one, too. I wonder if they were the Advance version of a letter sweater? Note how they are all wearing sweaters, but they are careful to have them pulled up to display the the buckles.

Undated school photo

She thought this must have been an upperclass photo, but she couldn’t be sure. She’s third from the right in the front row.

Caps and gowns

This must have been the Class of 1938 in their caps and gowns. It looks like there is a hornet in the window pane on the left. Mother said her class was the one that came up with that as the name for the school’s mascot. She’s second from the right in this shot.

More graduates

This is a larger group shot. She’s to the right of the middle in the front row. (She had a knack for getting in the front of photos, even then.) Mother hasn’t decided if she’s going down for the reunion. She doesn’t think there are many of her class left.

Here are the birthday pages from her Memory Book. We’ll have more of her scrapbook photos coming up if there are enough Advance readers to make it worthwhile.

September 1, 2011September 18, 2011

Casino Main Street Relocation

Main Street used to have a slight jog around the old shoe factory, then go through a set of flood gates to cross Sloan Creek and head north through Red Star. To accommodate the new Isle Casino Cape Girardeau, Main Street was curved more to the north to tie directly into Chestnut Street / 177 / Big Bend Road. It looks like it’s going to cross the creek far enough west that it won’t need flood gates. A construction worker said he thought the old gates might be permanently closed.

Panorama of Main Street relocation

This is a stitching together of five photos ranging from the north end where the road meets Big Bend Road and running to south of Mill Street. I’m really impressed with the way Photoshop managed to blend the photos together. I didn’t do anything special to make sure they were overlapping or particularly level. Photoshop made all of the magic happen with a button push. Click on any photo to maker it larger. (This one should be about twice the size of what I normally post.)

Super-secret, hush-hush project

I wouldn’t have even attempted this in the old black and white darkroom days. Well, I should rethink that. Years and years ago, long before Google Earth, the boss called me into his office and said that he had a super-secret project he needed my help on and that I shouldn’t ask any questions. He wanted me to rent a helicopter and fly a grid, shooting photos of a particular area that I should join together to give a composite view of the target. I never passed up a chance to put on a safety harness, step out on a chopper’s skid and lean out into space, so I took the assignment.

Because I couldn’t shoot straight down, I ended up with almost a roomful of 8×10 prints that didn’t quite line up when they were spread out on the floor. It was acceptable to the guy who signed my check, though. As far as I know, nothing was ever developed on that plot of land and I never did find out what the mission was for. With modern equipment and software, it would have been a piece of cake.

Will float on columns of gravel

When I was talking with the friendly workers, I asked if they were pouring concrete columns for support or if they were pile-driving them. They said, neither. The equipment that looked like drilling rigs were used to bore holes in the ground, then gravel was poured into them with that funnel-looking thing so that the floor would ride on columns of gravel instead of concrete pillars.

“Wouldn’t be easier just to excavate the space, then put in the gravel and compact it?”

“That’s what we asked, but we were told that this is supposed to be more earthquake-proof.”

I’ll take their word for it. It’s an interesting technique that I haven’t run into in Florida where earthquakes are about the only calamity we DON’T face on a regular basis.

Mill Street has a twist in it

Because good highway practice is to have roads intersect at a 90-degree angle, Mill Street will have a curve to the left to tie it into the new Main Street. The houses on the right will have a service road or driveway to give them access to the street. Looks like Mill Hill isn’t going to be as neat as it used to be.

The guys I talked with had done a lot of the demolition. They said it was a lot tougher than they thought it would be and took longer than anticipated. “There were a lot of stone foundations and things we didn’t know about in advance. Down there by the pump house, there was a whole lot of concrete and even a couple of old smoke stacks.”

He was young enough that he didn’t know that there had once been a huge factory there.

A massive concrete pour has taken place since these photos were taken. You can read Melissa Miller’s version of it in The Missourian. Her construction workers told even better stories than mine did.