I was roaming around Cape looking at all the bare ground where buildings had been torn down. One that caught my eye was at Christine and William across from the Town Plaza. There’s a new Plaza Tire directly south of it.
I mentioned to someone that a sign said a new CVS pharmacy was going on the bare lot, but I couldn’t remember what had been there before.
My friend said she couldn’t remember, but had read the project had been delayed because a couple of big underground tanks had to be removed.
I remembered those tanks
That shot me back over half a century ago. One of the most significant moments of my boyhood came flooding back.
Here’s how I remembered it: When I was about 10, Dad was setting a big tank for someone. He had the load locked down and suspended about five feet off the ground while a worker for his client was leveling the dirt below it. He stepped off the crane for a break, then sent me back to get his jug of iced tea. When I climbed up into the cab, the tank owner went berserk. “Kid, get DOWN off there. If you touch something, you could kill that man.!”
I froze until Dad hollered back, “If I thought he was going to touch anything, I wouldn’t have sent him.” Turning to me, he said, quietly, “Fetch me the jug, please.” I realized then how much confidence Dad had in me.
Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders pulled up a Frony aerial of the area right after the Town Plaza was built. From all the trucks parked around the lot, it might have been a trucking depot at one time. That would explain why they needed the tanks.
I’ve been trying to remember the name of a restaurant that I believe was located in this part of town. This would have been in the 1990s or early 2000s. The place was family-oriented, was in a large frame building, and they served, among other things, catfish and sweet potatoes. Great food, not a chain. Anyone else remember this place?
Ken, you have an aerial shot of the Town Plaza that shows that intersection that you shared with me. I can see that a mobile home dealer was situated between the original Plaza Tire, on the corner of Christine and William, and another business on the corner of William and Linda.
Wasn’t there first a car wash that also sold gasoline originally at the site of the original Plaza Tire?
The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that there was a car wash there first.
There was a Standard station at the northeast corner of William and Kingshighway that had a car wash.
Thanks for reminding me. I’ll have to see if I’ve run it.
COOK’S HEATING AND PLUMBING WAS WHERE THE BRAND NEW PLAZA TIRE HAS JUST BEEN COMPLETED ON THE CORNER OF LINDA AND GOOD HOPE ST. AND A VOLKSWAGON DEALERSHIP WAS RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF LINDA, IT WAS OWNED BY AN ALLGOOD, I BELIEVE BUT I CANNOT PUT A NAME ON THE CORNER BLDG ON WM.AND KINGSHIGHWAY. PLAZA TIRE CARWASH WAS NEXT TO CHRISTINE AND WM. ST. AND CHANGED OVER TO PLAZA TIRE IN THE SAME LOCATION. MR. LEROY KINDER MAY BE ABLE TO SHEDSOME LIGHT ON THIS.
Thanks, Rose – I knew that the Standard Station had a small drive-in car wash, but I was pretty certain that the building on the corner of William and Christine was originally a car wash.
Hey Ken,
That might have been the location of the Commercial Transport fuel tanks. Folks might remember the red with yellow chevron tanker trucks that ran out of the location delivering gas and diesel fuel to filling stations in a couple of hundred mile radius from Cape. They’re still in business today but I’m not sure where they’re located. I think Harvey Henry owned them at that time. I see them on the interstate from time to time.
When I was a SEMO freshman in 1967 I washed my laundry at the laundromat in that plaza. One weekend day I took a wire basket out of the trash to carry my laundry back to the dorm. Here it is 46 years later and I still have that basket. I used to eat at Bullock’s cafeteria in the plaza and met Bobby Kennedy in that parking lot in April (as I remember) 1968.
On Christine St., a little farther back, was the office of doctors Hoxworth and Sparkman. I cannot remember the nurse’s name (I remember her face well)– it may miraculously come to me. They were our family doctors for most or all t of the sixties.
LAURA, THERE WAS A RESTUARNT, CANNOT THINK OF THE NAME OF IT, THAT WAS IN THE 2ND BLOCK EAST OF KINGSHIGHWAY. IT WAS BEHIND WHERE HARDEE’S IS NOW. IT WAS A BRICK BLDG. AND HAD DELICIOUS FOOD. I DO WISH I COULD REMEMBER THE NAME.
Rose, I believe you are talking about “The Flaming Pit”.
Mark, correct you are; The Flaming Pit was a decent place to eat.
On the corner of Kingshighway and Linda Street was Lemon’s Coin Machines which had juke boxes at restaurants and pin ball machines. It was previously owned by a couple who was killed in an airplane crash overseas in the 1960’s. Lemon’s has been in business since 1965 and is now located at 224 S. Spanish Street. I would assume the airplane crash was before 1965 when they purchased the company.
Gail, the couple that you are speaking of were Mr. and Mrs. Bill Hollenbeck of 1923 Oak Hills Drive in Cape. Mr. Hollenbeck owned the Bill Hollenbeck Company which was a vending machine business. The Hollenbecks were on BOAC airlines flight 911 which crashed near Mt Fuji in Japan on March 5, 1966.
A neighbor of ours was Nelson Martin, Mrs. Hollenbeck’s brother, who inherited the business. Nelson operated the business for a number of years before selling off the business to the Lemons.
One other note; the Bill Hollenbeck Company was based at 224 S. Spanish St.
Here’s a link to the Southeast Missourian article on that plane crash:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ncwfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0NgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5062%2C5841192