Cape Girardeau History and Photos

January 19, 2011January 9, 2012

Big Tire Smashes into Car

The big news in The Missourian Nov. 20, 1965, was a 700-pound wheel that broke off a city motor grader and went bouncing down the 700 block of Broadway. It smashed a window at Shoppers’ Warehouse Market, Inc., then bounced into in the side of Mrs. Diane Kincaid’s car. No one was injured. Cape Girardeau Patrolman Jeffery L. Steger is investigating.

That’s the most newsworthy photo – and the one that ran in the paper – but some of the other frames I shot that day are interesting from a historical standpoint.

Pete Koch’s Sinclair Station

I tried to read the price on the pumps, but I couldn’t make it out. My guess is that it was about 36 cents a gallon in 1965. The building and pumps have been replaced by a convenience store named Downtown Sinclair.

Downtown Sinclair in 2009

If there are any gas pumps around, I can’t see them in this photo. The Dino the Dinosaur sign has been replaced by one directing you to Centenary Church.

Familiar buildings on Broadway

The phone company building still has its microwave tower used for long distance back in the days before fiber optic cable. With a little imagination, I thought I could read that a Steve McQueen movie was playing at the Esquire, but I couldn’t make out the name of which one.

I can make out signs for Bill’s Pharmacy and Wayne’s Grill, the home of the best filet I’ve ever eaten. It was a Saturday payday ritual to stop off and have one of those bacon-wrapped steaks.

Crash attracted crowd

A crowd gathered, with much looking, speculating and theory-thrashing. In one of the photos in the gallery, someone with a movie camera showed up, probably from KFVS-TV.

Photo Gallery of the Big Tire Crash

Include are all of the shots taken in 1965, plus contemporary photos of the neighborhood in 2009. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

January 18, 2011

Third Graders Measure Up

On the same Missourian Youth Page as the Tucker Lamkin kindergarten aide story, I had two photos of Campus School third graders “measuring up.” They were applying arithmetic facts to everyday life.

Here’s the caption that appeared under the May 6, 1967, photo: At left, working with measures of liquid capacity, are: John, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Schneider, 2522 Meadow Lane, and Susan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James McHaney, 1425 Bessie; time, Elizabeth, daughter of Mrs. Bobbie Henderson, 1453 Howell, and Melinda, daughter of Mrs. Morley Swingle; and, solid volume, Debra, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. Edgar Massey, 564 North Boulevard, and Lyn, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. W. A. Williams, 1235 Normal.

I hated shooting school feature photos (except for the five bucks). You can see what a hassle it was to get not just the names of the kids, but their parents and their addresses, too. Can you imagine what that would be like in today’s blended family environment?

At least this assignment had some neat props. The killers were ones where all the class did was make a poster or a bulletin board. Deadly dull.

Rulers, yardsticks and scales

The photo caption read: Learning about rulers, yardsticks and scales are Stuart, son of Mr. and Mrs. Don Caldwell, 372 North Park; Kathleen, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. C. E. Williams, 336 North Lorimier; Susan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Barklage, 2427 Brookwood; Martha, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Walker, 1235 Sailer Circle; Scott, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Friedricksen, 535 North Sprigg; and Stephen, son of Dr. and Mrs. Bryce D. March, Kage Road.

Judy Crow captured good quotes

Staff Writer Judy Crow captured some good quotes from the children. You can find her story about the third graders at this link.

Some Missourian reporters resented having to do school features and asked me to leave their bylines off them. I have a testy memo from Judy where she wrote that she took the school assignments seriously and lobbied me to keep putting the bylines on the stories to shame the others into doing a good job.

I sure didn’t want to get on Judy’s bad side, so I heeded her wishes.

January 17, 2011

Tucker Lamkin: “She’s a He!”

Tucker Lamkin, left, was featured on the May 6, 1967, Missourian Youth Page, in a story by Margaret Randol headlined, “Kindergarten Class Has a Unique Helper (She’s a He!)”

Tucker, son of Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Lamkin, 702 North street, was the first male to participate in Central High School’s kindergarten aid program.

[Editor’s note: The story referred to Tucker as an “aid,”which didn’t feel right to me, so I checked an online reference which said, ” In American English, a personal assistant is usually an aide (nurse’s aide, presidential aide) but an inanimate object or process is always an aid (hearing aid, first aid).” I actually SAW Tucker move, so I can attest that he was NOT an “inanimate object,” and was an aide. I didn’t write the original story, but I probably edited it and should have caught it 43 years ago. It’s probably too late to run a correction.]

Signs of acceptance

I’ve discovered over the years that there are two steps that have to be taken before a minority group can be said to be integrated into a larger group.

Step 1: You do “First” person stories:

First woman firefighter
First black firefighter
First woman construction worker
First Hispanic Representative
First gay mayor (Get the idea?)

Step 2: (and more importantly) The LAST time you do one of those “First” person stories. That’s when it stops being unusual to see that group as news.

Little girls want to marry him

Margaret did a good job on the story. There are lots of funny quotes:

“Isn’t he handsome?”
“I’m going to marry him when I grow up.”
“No, you aren’t. He’s going to marry me. Maybe he’ll even let me ring the bell when it’s time to go in.”

It’s worth following this link to read the whole story about Tucker’s Adventures in Kindergarten.

Uncharacteristically, the children in the photo with Tucker aren’t identified. I’m pretty sure jBlue chewed me out for that.

January 16, 2011January 17, 2011

CHS Maintenance Staff

Central High School maintenance staffers like James Criddle might as well as have been invisible to most of us students. When I went back for a walk through our high school in 2009, I was impressed at how well maintained it was. Every wall and floor shined just like when we were there 45 years ago.

The new generation of maintenance workers must be carrying on the tradition of the ones who were there in 1965: Jack Snider, Harold Brown, Leonard Reed, Richard Ware, Leonard Mayberry, James Criddle and Mrs. James Criddle.

[Editor’s note: Walter Lamkin notes in a comment below that the name of one of the maintenance workers was misspelled: it should be Leonard Reid, not Reed. I copied the names from the 1965 Girardot and checked them against the 1964 Girardot. There was no listing for a Leonard Reed in the 1969 City Directory, but there was a Leonard REID. Mr. Reid lived on Thilenius St., along with Elodie and Larry (a student). Based on that, I’m going to vote with Mr. Lamkin and complain to Girardot Editor-in-Chief Nancy Jenkins.]