Steven McKeown Archives

January 31, 2014

Bunny Bread and Smokey Bear

I was mining a few more nuggets from the photos shot by James D. McKeown III and provided by his son, Steven McKeown, this afternoon. The shots of “Stevie” – I assume that’s a early edition of my Reader Steven – in his Bunny Bread shirt reminded me of the piece I had done on what my family called the Used Bread Store.

Kid Matt had one when he was a boy, and he insisted that his Grandmother find one for Grandkid Malcolm (science fair winner, did I mention that?).

Three icons in one photo

“Stevie” has the trifecta of icons in this photo: his Bunny Bread shirt, a Smokey Bear (NOT Smokey the Bear) and a sailor cap. The only thing that would more a product of the era would have been a Davey Crockett coonskin cap.

The end of the picnic

I tried to see what they had, but there’s not enough left to tell. Looks like a few Cokes were consumed. The bottle on the table has an Ann Page logo, but I can’t make out the rest of the label. There aren’t any flies buzzing around, which is unusual for Missouri.

Typical Cape street

I wonder how much bigger the trees in the background have grown?

I’ll dip into the stash a few more times. He has some interesting photos of a bad windstorm that blew through the Independence area of town, damaging some landmark buildings. There are also vintage pictures taken at KFVS and of Scouting activities.

August 20, 2012

Bow Hunting in Cape

Whether or not to allow bow hunting for deer inside Cape’s city limits has been a big controversy for the past year. Reader Steven McKeown sent me a couple hundred family photos a few months ago; I spotted these three photos of backyard bow and arrow practice. They appear to be after targets, not wild game.

If you click on the photo to make it larger, you can see some interesting objects. First off, look at the shadow of the clothes line in the lower right of the frame. Check out the large silver bell above the target

Looks like a backyard garden

Steven’s family was active in Scouting, particularly Troop 2. He didn’t provide me any info with the photos, so I hope he or someone else will chime in with IDs.

I see a metal trash burner on the left, above the target. Were the stakes sticking up behind the man part of a backyard garden?

A cool day?

Looks like it might have been a bit chilly. The trees have lost all their leaves and both boys are in their winter long-sleeve uniforms. The man and woman are sort of scrunched up like their cold. The woman’s neckerchief is blowing in the wind. There’s metal fencing around the small tree behind the woman, probably to keep rabbits or other animals from nibbling on it.

The Boy Scout is from Troop 2, but I can’t see the Cub’s Pack insignia. It looks like it starts with a 5. I had forgotten that Scout pants had a button on them so you could fold it down for easy access or button it up high for security.

Thanks to Steven for letting me publish these.

May 9, 2012

1956 SEMO Homecoming Parade

I’m dipping into Steve McKeown’s stash of photos taken by his dad, James D. McKeown III, to show the 1956 Southeast Missouri State College (now University) Homecoming parade headed down Broadway between Pacific and North West End Blvd.

I’m sure car buffs will enjoy seeing the fancy wheels. Old truck enthusiasts will like the red pickup in the church parking lot.

Trucks supplied by local companies

I see trucks from E.C. Robinson Lumber Co. and Wiethrop Trucking.

Pictures of other Homecoming Parades

1956 Homecoming Parade photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery. Give a round of applause to Steve for providing the photos and to his dad for taking them.

April 22, 2012

DRAW!!! Boy Slaps Leather

Reader Steven McKeown sent me an email the other day, “Ken, I have some old pics of Cape … tornado damage; home coming parade pics, etc. … are you interested in them? They are all digitized…”

To be honest, I normally turn down photos from other folks because I still have a gazillion of my own to go through, but he said the magic words, “They are all digitized.” That might mean that all I’d have to do is to do some minor touchups and size them for posting.

When the 300-plus images taken by his dad, James D. McKeown III, showed up, I was blown away by some of the the images. These two shots of a boy in his backyard drawing down on the photographer are iconic. I wish my name was under them.

Another one bites the dust

Here’s what Steven could tell me about the photo:

Location is our back yard on 1736 Independence (house is still there, right next to the parking lot) … picture is facing north towards Whitner. The houses in the backgroud are on Whitner. I’m not sure who the boy is, but very possibly one of my best gradeschool friends, Brad McKee, who lived down on the corner of Whitner and Caruthers. I have long since forgotten who lived right behind us. Bobby Drace (sp?) lived up the street. We used to race the coaster carts down Whitner (and try to get them stopped before going out into traffic on Caruthers … or have spotters and we would coast all the way to the High School parking lot.

The little boys I shot a generation later were better armed.