Cape Girardeau History and Photos

November 17, 2010November 17, 2010

Rialto: Gone, Gone, Gone

I wrote that the roof of the Rialto Theater collapsed after a rainstorm back in June. A reader asked what was going to happen? Were they going to repair and reopen or just call in the bulldozers.

Alas, the bulldozers won

See the faint letters painted on the blacktop parking lot at the bottom of the photo. Compare this photo to one I shot from behind the theater five months earlier. There’s a lot of building gone.

Rialto Theater in June

I’m not surprised that the building was razed. When I shot interior photos of the building in February, everything behind the lobby had already been gutted to a shell.

Rialto front looks the same

The front of the building looks so much the same that I didn’t even bother to update the photo. Since what used to be the lobby is intact, I suspect that what used to be a movie theater will become regular office space.

Rialto and other theater stories

I’ve done a number of stories about Cape’s theaters. Here are some links in case you missed them.

Headed back to Florida

I’ve been in Cape for exactly a month. I have a couple of loose ends to tie up, then I’ll be packing everything up for the journey back to West Palm Beach. Once I get back there, I have to install everything onto a newer, spiffier computer. One of the two mirrored hard drives on my old machine died while I was on the trip, so Kid Matt convinced me to replace the whole machine instead of throwing money at an old box. I’m excited about a faster computer; I’m not excited about having to reinstall all the applications.

What all this means is that you may not be seeing as much stuff as usual over the next week or so. With Turkey Day coming up, I imagine you’ll be busy with family and holidays anyway. If you’re bored, go back and read some of the old stories. Folks add new comments to old posts almost every day.

I’ve given up chasing advertising, but I’m still kicking around some book options. I’ll let you know how that’s going when I know where it’s headed.

November 15, 2010November 16, 2010

Perkins’ Shoe Tree

“What’s that on that utility pole? It looks like someone has nailed shoes all over it.”

Ernie Chiles and I were rocketing along on State Hwy P just north of Perkins after leaving the Painton Airport when something odd caught my eye.

Indeed, there WERE shoes nailed to the pole.

Shoes on fence posts

I’ve seen shoes on top of fence posts. These were spotted on old U.S. 27 south of Lake Okeechobee in Florida on a bike ride in 2006. Farmers have told me that covering the tops of wooden posts keeps them from rotting out.

Shoes plus nails plus pole

It’s pretty common to see sneakers with their laces knotted together thrown over power lines. I just hadn’t seen any NAILED to a utility pole before.

Wife Lila’s aunt and uncle, Ray and Rose Mary Seyer, and Mother and I went on an all-day jaunt through what used to be swampland between Dutchtown and Advance. Perkins was on our way, so I told everybody to keep their eyes open for what I called The Shoe Tree (OK, it’s a pole, but grant me some literary license).

Every kind of shoe

Just before Perkins, there it was. Ernie and I hadn’t been hallucinating from our high-altitude flight this weekend.

We’re not talking a couple of shoes, we’re talking about a couple dozen shoes, plus some that had fallen off and empty nails where other shoes had been tacked up. Some of those puppies were up HIGH, too.

There were work boots, kid shoes, womens shoes, even what looked like a pair of ballet slippers.

What’s the story?

We stopped at the first sign of civilization, Perkins Mini Mart. Owner Pamela Bailey said she’d lived in the area more than 30 years and “they’ve been there as long as I can remember.”

A customer came in who said that he didn’t know why people nailed them up. “Maybe the first person did it because he wore his shoes out walking that field, who knows?”

Mother’s going back

Mother said she didn’t see any high-heeled shoes on the pole. “I’m coming back with a pair of my old shoes.” I bet she will, too.

Shoe Tree Map

If you’d like to see The Shoe Tree, it’s on this Google Map. The circled question mark marks the spot. If you see a pair of high-heeled shoes, Mother has been there before you.

View Perkins’ Shoe Tree in a larger map

To get there from Cape, go 74 to Dutchtown, then turn south onto 25. Take it until you come to the first road past Delta. Turn left on Mo Hwy P. The pole will be on your left just before you get to Perkins. (Hint, don’t mistake Randles for Perkins. Perkins comes after Randles.)

November 14, 2010

Frohna Mill Being Razed

While updating some stories about the German settlements in Perry County, north of Cape Girardeau, I passed an old mill being torn down.

I apologize for not having more information, but I thought I’d put the pictures up in case anyone wanted to drive up to Frohna to see the structure before it was flattened. There’s a chance demolition may be delayed, but I think it’s postponing the inevitable.

Mill built in 1863

I found a paragraph in George G. Thurm’s A Pictorial Tour of Historic East Perry County Missouri that said the mill was built in 1863 by Johann Heinrich Weinhold. “The company went bankrupt in the 1920s, when creditors could not pay their bills. The property was sold and converted into a feed store. This operation ceased in 1985.”

Feed sacks for sewing

Over the years, it became an unwritten rule that no women were allowed in the mill. It was the exclusive domain and gathering place for the men in the area.

On the other hand, a local woman told me the men were sent to the feed store with samples of feed sacks so they could match the patterns on sacks the women were using for sewing projects. The sacks in this photo are made of paper.

Close to Saxon Lutheran Memorial

If you want to go to the mill, it’s within a mile of the Saxon Lutheran Memorial in Frohna, and along the way. The memorial’s outdoor history museum with log cabins from around the area is well worth a drive. I’ll be running photos I shot of some of the original buildings in the 60s before long.

Gallery of photos of flour mill and feed store

Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery.

November 14, 2010March 27, 2016

First Baptist Church

This time change has me messed up. I like sleeping an extra hour in the morning, but I’m not used to it being dark by 2:30 in the afternoon. The good thing, though, is that a lot of Cape’s buildings look neat at twilight.

I was driving by the new First Baptist Church the other evening and noticed the way the white steeple and light inside looked against the darkening sky.

Church established in 1834

The first First Baptist Church in Cape was established in 1834 on Lorimier St. Sixty years later, the congregation moved to Spanish St. and Broadway. In 1928, a growing congregation caused a move to a larger facility at Broadway and Harmony. Finally, in 2006, the new church at Cape Rock Dr. and Lexington Ave. was built.

Painting the old steeple

I ran photos of the steeple of the Broadway and Spanish church being painted in 1967. At that time, a Missourian photo caption said it was the General Baptist Church.