Cape Girardeau History and Photos

June 13, 2011December 29, 2011

Do These Photos Say Cape?

I have a friend who was looking for some stock photos of Cape to use as headers on a web page. I started poking around and came up with these old and new photos that I think capture some of the spirit of the town.

The biggest challenge was finding pictures that would fit the exact format shape – a skinny horizontal.

Photographers HATE to shoot for shape

Photographers HATE going out to shoot for shape. We always figured that was a sign that the page designer was too lazy to work with the most story-telling photos on deadline. He wanted to dummy the page early so he could go home early.

Photographers, of course, believe that every photograph is perfectly composed. Some would express that conceit by printing their photos “full frame” with black borders that indicated that the picture had not been cropped. (Guilty as charged.)

Of course, as a guy who had to do his own layouts, I found that sometimes cropping the photo made the page look a lot better. It was OK if I did it; it was a mortal sin if someone else did it.

Photo gallery

Since I’m not exactly sure what my friend is looking for, I’ve pulled together photos that you’ve seen before and some that were in the pipeline. I’m curious to see what you think best says “Cape Girardeau.”

If she uses any, I’ll post the website address. As always, click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

June 13, 2011January 26, 2022

Wittenberg – Grand Tower Ferry

I’m working on a big project on Wittenberg, a once thriving German community in Perry County that couldn’t stand up to the 1973 and 1993 floods. When I was there before this year’s flood, it was down to two buildings and three residents.

Here are photos I took of the Tower Rock Ferry shortly after it started operating in October of 1966. That’s my 1959 Buick LaSabre station wagon in the photo. (I point that out because there’s a group of folks who collect them and search out every picture they can find of them.)

Ferries have served since 1870s

Mary Beth Mueller Dillon’s book on Wittenberg says that The Wittenberg Ferry & Reality, a large ferry, operated between Grand Tower and Wittenberg, a “favorite crossing place for covered wagons.”

Ferry stories in The Missourian

Mar. 2, 1927 – The Wittenberg Ferry is now running again for the season. Your business is appreciated. Otto Lungwitz, Owner.
Mar. 17, 1932 – The Wittenberg ferry has not been in operation because of ice. Drivers of several cars have been disappointed. The ferry will start service again as soon as the ice is gone.
Mar. 23, 1932 – The Wittenberg ferry was busy Sunday, with no ice in the river. Ray Murry has bought a 1911 model Buick, said to the oldest car in good running condition in Perry County.
Mar. 31, 1932 – The Wittenberg ferry is busy transporting corn trucks, as large supplies are coming from Illinois to Missouri.

Inmans start Grand Tower Ferry

A newspaper story Oct. 7, 1966, said that dual ribbon cutting ceremonies in Missouri and Illinois will mark the start of ferry service between Wittenberg and Grand Tower, Ill. Mrs. Charles Inman, who with her husband, will officially christen the pusher boat, Miss June. The barge and push boat, which can haul six cars at a time, was built in St. Louis.

The Miss June will succeed Miss Bertha, which served from Oct. 1922, to May 1942, under the management of Otto L. “Nick” Lungwitz. The ferry was discontinued when it became too small to accommodate modern vehicles. The journey will take motorists under the 2,150-foot Texas-Illinois pipeline bridge, the longest such bridge in the world.

Crosses under Texas-Illinois pipeline

Sally Wright Brown wrote a story Nov. 24, 1974, about June Inman being the second licensed woman towboat operator in the United States. Her family has been in the ferry business since 1895. Her husband had been piloting the boat until he took a job at the East Perry Lumber Co. in Altenburg.

The Miss June was attached to the middle of the barge with a hinge. When the ferry reached the far shore, the push boat would pivot on the hinge to set up for the return trip.

“Floating section of a highway”

Someone described ferries as being a “floating section of a highway.”

This “floating highway” saved drivers a 70-mile round trip drive to Chester, Ill., or Cape to take a bridge across the Mississippi River. When the service started, fare for a car was $1.50, later raised to $2.50. A tractor trailer cost $3.50.

I don’t have the exact date when the ferry ceased running. The Dillon book said that the Inmans ran it from 1966 to 1976.

June 11, 2011October 17, 2011

Train Trip to New Mexico

With all of the excitement about the Union Pacific steam engine coming through Cape, it was good timing to stumble onto my train ticket going from Cape to Philmont Scout Ranch in Raton, N.M., in 1962.

Service club sent us to Philmont

One of Cape’s service clubs sent three Scouts to Philmont for a Junior Leader Instructor Training Course (JLIT). I wish I could remember which club it was, because it was one of the greatest experiences of my young life. I’ll be sure to find out by the time I write up the whole trip.

Classmates Bill Hardwick and Martin Dubs were the other two Scouts.

In the Things Never Change Department, note the Missourian headline above our photo.

People traveled by train

A cross-country trip by train wasn’t unusual in those days.

A train trip from Cape to Chaffee was a rite of passage for kindergarten classes at Trinity Lutheran School.

I hopped a train from Cape to Peoria for a photo conference in the late 60s. I went back and forth between Cape and Athens the first year I was at Ohio University. Unfortunately, the railroads were doing everything they could to discourage passenger travel, so they arranged it so you’d have a day layover in Cincinnati, making it impractical. The inconvenience and student standby rates offered by airlines ended my train travel.

Round trip ticket cost $63.86

It looks like we were on the Frisco, Missouri Pacific and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail lines to get there and back. The carbon is a little hard to read, but it looks like the round trip cost $63.86. Another stub showed that we paid 50 cents for a “Special Service Charge for Reserved Coach Seat.”

Filet Mignon cost $3.50

The menu shows that a bacon-wrapped, 8-oz. Filet Mignon with a baked potato, chef’s salad, hot bread, green peas and a drink cost $3.50. I was probably put out by that extravagant price because I could get a filet with fries and a salad at Wayne’s Grill for $1.25. Darned gougers.

I’m pretty sure the cook cars still used wood stoves on this run.

Strip sirloin was $3.95

The special might have been a better deal: a 12-oz. charcoal-broiled strip sirloin steak with baked potato, fresh green beans, tossed salad, hot biscuits and a drink for $3.95.

June 11, 2011

St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas

While looking for something else, I happened to stumble across a July 26, 1926 Missourian story headlined “Pocahontas Is Well Pleased With Missourian Free Movie.”

I pass through Pocahontas on my bike en route to Altenburg and a weather-beaten old building there caught my eye on a recent trip.

The story went on to say that Farm Agent Keyser (no first name given) remarked that “we are greeted tonight by the largest crowd that has ever been assembled for a Missourian picture show.”

The Lutheran League of the Lutheran Church had arranged seats between the church building and the school house for the show.

St. John’s Lutheran Church

I don’t know if the show was held at St. John’s Lutheran Church or the Zion Lutheran Church, so we’ll have to pretend it was St. John’s, because that’s where these photos were taken.

Agent Keyser said that “good roads, better means of transportation, and a growing desire to see and learn, are responsible for the larger crowds this year at the picture shows.”

Fewer shabby-looking cars

“It is also noticeable that there are more new automobiles and fewer shabby-looking ones than ever before. A few years ago, it was common to see the small boys, and even some men, dressed in overalls. This year not a child has been seen in overalls. Everybody looks better dressed, not only because they have more money, but because they have a greater pride in themselves,” Keyser explained.

“The Wallace Beery picture is heartily received. The audience last night laughed from start to finish and there were people present from a number of other communities who came to see the show a second time.”

Better roads between Cape and Pocahontas

“Pocahontas is not as far away from Cape Girardeau as it was prior to this week. The opening of the seven-mile stretch of concrete between Cape and Jackson has reduced the distance several minutes and when the slab is compete to Jackson the distance will be still shorter.

“It takes about 35 to 40 minutes to drive from Cape to Pocahontas now. The distance between the end of the slab and Jackson is smooth and well-maintained. No. 25 from Jackson to Pocahontas is what can be called a perfect gravel highway. A few years ago, it required more than an hour to motor from Cape to Pocahontas under the best conditions and twice as long in wet weather.”