Cape Girardeau History and Photos

June 27, 2010April 1, 2021

Central High’s 60’s Reunion, Day 1

The Central High School 60’s Decade Reunion is over. These pictures are from Friday’s events. I’ll have photos from Saturday’s tour of the high school on Monday. I may post more pictures from other Saturday activities on Tuesday. Then we’re done for at least another five years.

It was better than expected

Friday night was spent wandering around trying to read name tags to see if you recognized anyone. Frequent contributors Bill East (blue shirt) and Terry Hopkins (bleep-eating grin) are here.

I have to admit that I wasn’t sure I was looking forward to the reunion. I haven’t kept in touch with my old classmates, and I hadn’t enjoyed the two reunions I had attended.

People at the 20th were still trying to impress each other. (OK, I was guilty of that, too.) The 2005 reunion had music that was played so loudly that it was almost impossible to talk, and everyone was packed so tightly together that it was hard to mingle.

What you need for a great reunion

The organizers this year told the DJ to keep the volume at a reasonable level.
The tables were far enough apart that you could maneuver around them.
There were interesting displays around the outside of the room.
The event wasn’t bogged down with a program and lots of announcements.

Because of the setup of the room, it was possible to have more, longer conversations with classmates than ever before. I had the feeling that we’re all hitting the age where we’re interesting in connecting with each other and our pasts more than in previous years.

Here’s what I look like

My wife took this and insisted that I put in at least one shot of me if I was going to show how gray everyone else had turned. That’s Sherry Huff Swanson in the middle and Joe Snell on the right.

Sherry just about induced a heart attack when she pulled me over to the side and said we should go outside to her convertible where she’d take her top down. Holy Cow! I missed the 10th reunion where skinny dipping was alleged, but the 2010 reunion sounded like it might be memorable.

Turned out my hearing is slipping. We went out to her convertible, but it was the CAR that had the top down. And, all she had in mind was being photographed IN the car. Alone.

My favorite reunion photo

I ran this as a placeholder yesterday, but it’s my favorite reunion photo so far. It captures the spirit of our decade. We may have some miles on the odometer, but we can still rev it up when we need to.

Photo Gallery

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

June 27, 2010

Central High School 60s Reunion Rel. 1

If the path to Hell is paved with good intentions, I must be about half-way to Heck. I had hoped to get Friday’s 60s’ Decade class reunion photos up on Saturday, then follow up with Saturday’s activities on Sunday.

As it turned out, I stayed later at the high school tour than I thought I would. (When Linda Stone and Tricia Tipton invite you for a literal walk down memory lane – OK, Themis Street – I’d have been a fool to turn them down. Then, I had a great conversation with Gerald Love over lunch, so IT went long.

Nap magnet strikes

I started editing the first couple hundred photos when the nap magnet reached out, grabbed me by the arm and flung me flat on my back. I learned a long time ago that fighting the nap magnet only tires you out more and is counterproductive, so I played dead until it released me.

This is just a long way of saying that this is all you’re going to see until Sunday. It’s almost 1 a.m. and I’m tired and retired.

After all, what are you folks gonna do, fire me?

June 25, 2010April 11, 2021

Rialto Theater Roof Collapses

Wife Lila was having breakfast this morning with a gaggle of her 1966 classmates when Bill East casually mentioned that he had heard that the roof of the Rialto Theater had collapsed. (She’s the one on the left in this 1966 Girardot ad, by the way.)

I had a hard time believing that because I had been inside the place in March. I was in the Old Town Cape offices trying to convince them that CapeCentralHigh.com would be a great place for them to advertise (they said they were non-profit. I said I was worse than non-profit. I was losing money, but that’s another story).

The Rialto holds special memories for me

I mentioned to Toni Eftink that the building next to their office, the old Rialto theater, had special meaning for me, because that’s where I met my future wife. (You can read the whole story by following this link. It involves Jim Stone, a coin flip and the world’s worst movie.)

Because Jim Stone was dating Carol Klarsfeld, whose mother owned the theater, we had the run of the place. Jim loved popping the popcorn (which had real butter in those days, by the way) and we got to watch the projectionist swap reels on the fly.

First a bell would ring signaling it was getting close to the end of the reel (not every projectionist stayed awake during the whole movie). Then there would be an almost imperceptible flash on the screen. When you saw a second flash, you started the second reel running, stopped the first reel and turned off the carbon arc that shined through the film.

Seats got carted out

Toni said I should have been there last week, when they were carting out the old theater seats because they had gotten wet and moldy when a sump pump leaked.

I talked my way into the building. It was pitch black. The only light I had was a small pocket flashlight that kept me from tripping over anything. I pointed my camera into the darkness and let flash. I didn’t have a clue what I had taken a picture of until I got back home. That’s why there are some crazy angles in the photos.

Looking back toward the projection booth, lobby entrance and bathrooms

The place was pretty much gutted. The projectors had long been removed, but you could still see where the concession stand had been.

Decorative mirrors still there

Walking toward the theater, you passed a mirrored wall, then had a choice of the left or right side of the seating.

The outside of the Rialto looks nice

The exterior of the building looks as nice today as it did in this photo shot in October 2009. I drove completely around the building looking for any evidence of damage, but didn’t see any.

Just before I dismissed the tip as some kind of Bill East caffeine-induced fantasy, I decided to check the buildings on either side of the old theater. The Old Town Cape folks were out doing whatever Old Town Cape folks do, because their offices were dark and locked.

The sky (or roof) IS falling

I walked into the business on the other side and asked for the Person in Charge of Rumor Control to quash a rumor that the roof of the Rialto had collapsed.

The rumor – apologies to Bill for doubting him – was true. I asked if there was any way I could get a photo of it. Nice Rumor Control Lady said the only way to see it was to go upstairs and stand on her desk.

I did.

Blame it on a storm

The roof collapsed around 1 p.m. on June 17, possibly as a result of a storm with high winds and heavy rain. No one was injured and the adjacent buildings weren’t damaged.

Lots of palm sweat in that place

Now that I think back on it, not only did I meet my future wife at the Rialto, I think my first real high school date took place in the theater. I’ll have to check with Shari Stiver to confirm that. (I’m sure it was less memorable for her than it was to me.)

If every other adolescent male was like I was, it’s no wonder why the sump pump failed after all these years. It must have pumped a Mississippi River of palm sweat from nervous high school boys.

Gallery of photos

Here’s a collection of photos over the years. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left of right side of the photo to move through the gallery. I’d have written more, but I’m already an hour and 13 minutes late to the class reunion.

Homecoming parade passed in front of the Rialto

You can see the front of the Rialto in its heyday in these photos of the 1964 SEMO Homecoming Parade.

June 25, 2010April 3, 2016

Gordonville Grill: Good Food, Good Value

I’m sure there are some Central High School folks in town for the reunion who are searching for somewhere with good food reasonably priced.

When I was in town this spring, Mother and I decided to try some places we’d never visited. I wrote about Mario’s Pasta House earlier. (I’ve eaten there twice on this trip and it keeps getting better.) [Editor’s note: Mario’s has moved to Cape, on Broadway just west of Southeast Hospital, but it’s as good as ever.]

The second place is Gordonville Grill. It’s close to Jackson, Cape Girardeau and the metropolis of Dutchtown. There’s a map at the bottom of the page.

Owner Andy Hancock

Andy Hancock and his wife, Amy, opened the Gordonville Grill in 2007. “Ninety percent of restaurants fail in the first three years. We’ve been here four years, so I think we’re going to make it.” Based on what I’ve seen in the eight or ten times I’ve eaten there, the couple have a solid customer base that is growing as friends tell friends about the place.

“We do traditional advertising and have worked the Internet, but most of our business comes from word of mouth,” Andy explained. “We get them in here the first time, we win them over, then they tell their friends. That’s our advertising plan. In a small town, it’s our experience that if you’re the first to know of a place and introduce something new to a friend, then you’re kind of a hero.”

Gordonville Grill offers comfort foods

Andy grew up in Jackson and his wife lived in several small towns (like there’s anything else around) in Southeast Missouri. Both worked at Outback Steakhouse. He majored in business and marketing at SEMO.

They found that Cape Girardeans were initially drawn to the novelty of what Andy calls the Big Box restaurants in the early to mid-90s, but are eager to try small, privately-owned businesses now if they present good food at reasonable prices in attractive surroundings.

“I can’t compete with the big box stores with their purchasing power,” he said, “but I can provide food made from scratch with quality ingredients. We provide the personal touch. We make ‘comfort foods,’ like Beef Stroganoff and Sloppy Joes, food I grew up with.”

You can get more information, including their menu here at their website. Warning: turn your speakers down. For some reason, websites in Cape insist on launching audio as soon as the page loads.

Gordonville Grill building built in 1912

Andy said the building was built in 1912 as a general store. A Missourian story from June 21, 1938, announced that W.H. Bangert has sold his general merchandise business in Gordonville to W. A. Clark of Sikeston.

He and Mrs. Bangert operated the store for 43 years and four months, during which time the store became widely known as a place where goods were as represented and prices reasonable. In the last decades, the business was housed in a modern brick building, with residence flats in the second story and located on the most prominent corner in the village.

There was a follow-up story a month later that said Mr. Bangert, 64, was going to “take it easy” after selling his store by operating two farms, the Gordonville Post Office and filling the office of bank president. Follow this link to read more about Mr. Bangert, an interesting character.

What’s on the menu?

I can say that I haven’t been disappointed with anything I’ve ordered. The catfish were fixed just the way I like them, lightly breaded and crispy; the fresh-sliced fried okra is a pleasing appetizer; the Ultimate Nachos were a little different than what you normally get, but I learned to appreciate them by the bottom of the pile; the Flat Iron Steak was tender and tasty, and the Prime Rib was everything you would hope it to be.

{Editor’s note: I’m going to have to temper my unqualified endorsement. My kid, Mother and I had several bad experiences there, so I scratched it off my dining list. Some of my readers say it is still good, so I may give it another shot. Caveat emptor.]

Motorcycles and matrimony

While we were eating there this weekend, we saw what appeared to be a wedding party in formal gear headed up to one of the three private dining rooms upstairs at the same time a dozen and a half motorcycles pulled in to fill up the patio with bikers and their passengers.

How to find the Gordonville Grill

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