Ken Steinhoff, Author at Cape Girardeau History and Photos

January 31, 2010January 31, 2010

When Service Stations Delivered Service

I went to a funeral for Dave Moreland this morning.

It was in West Palm Beach, not Cape Girardeau, but there’s a reason I’m writing about it in connection with these pictures from Cape.

Dave owned Dave’s Texaco (Southend Texaco) for 24 years and had worked there since he was 16. He died of cancer, Jan. 25, at age 57. The station was within a few blocks of our home and we’ve been dealing with Dave and his family almost as long as we’ve been in Florida.

Over a hundred friends were seated for the service, and more than 100 others spilled out into a standing-room only lobby where we wished we’d had some of those old-fashioned funeral home fans to beat off the heat.

Dr. Willam Stepp, a minister who hailed from a small town in Mississippi, spoke of Dave as a customer, friend and fishing buddy. I’ve been to too many services where the officiant could barely pronounce the name of the guest of honor. This was certainly not one of those cases.

“Dave’s wasn’t a service station, it was an institution”

Dr. Stepp told story after story of how Dave lived his philosophy that it wasn’t a car he was serving, it was the PERSON in the car. He would realize that an elderly customer hadn’t been into the store recently and would send someone to check on them. “Dave was a hard-working, honest-to-the-core, get-it-done kind of guy.”

Framed collages of photos of friends and family filled the funeral home lobby. In every one of them and in a video that was shown as part of the service, there was a red-headed guy wearing an infectious grin that just had to make you feel good.

Lila and I and hundreds of his customers are going to miss Dave.

Back before gas stations, there were SERVICE stations

I like this picture from Cape Girardeau because it brings back memories of when service stations actually provided service. You didn’t just pull up at a pump, stick in a credit card, pump your gas yourself and drive off without ever seeing a human being.

You’d pull into a service station and as soon as your tires ran over a rubber hose sensor that rang a bell, one or more – sometimes uniformed – gas station attendants would come running 0ut. They’d check your tire pressure, pop your hood to check fluid levels and pump your gas. In some cases, like this one, someone would actually vacuum your car.

On top of that, your fill-up could earn you prizes and premiums. In a cabinet in my Mother’s kitchen are some colored aluminum tumblers that came from a service station. They were great for iced tea; the condensation running down their sides always made the drink SEEM colder.

George W. Eaker, Sr., at Brune & Eaker Phillips 66 Station

Like so many of my pictures, I had no clue who the attendant was, when it was taken or where. I DID notice in the background a sign that said that BRUNE & EA??R were the owners, so I reached out for Brad Brune. He put me in touch with George Eaker, Jr, who filled in most of the gaps with this message:

I have a mother who confirmed the information in this letter. Her name is Lora Lee Eaker, the wife of the late George W, Eaker Sr..

My mother is a tender 92 years old. My mother’s mental faculties have not diminished any with age.

I personally remember the day you took the photographs of my father as I was at the service station while you photographed my father. The photographs where taken at my father’s place of business, Brune and Eaker, 915 North Main in Cape Girardeau, MO. You took the photographs sometime in the spring of 1959. [Editor’s note: it couldn’t have been in 1959, I was only 12 then. It had to have been taken some time between 1963 and 1968.]

The reason for you taking the photographs of my father was to publicize the fact that my father had received an award from Phillips Petroleum Company (Phillips 66), for performing services to the mystery motorist.

The Mystery Motorist

The mystery motorist would be a customer that came in to a service station unannounced. The service station attendant had to follow the standards established by Phillips Petroleum for excellent customer service. The mystery motorist would always be a person unknown to the service station personnel. This unknown motorist was normally a traveling salesman who would be passing through the area on business.

The customer service program established by Phillips Petroleum included a greeting to the customer that included a suggestion to purchase Flight Fuel, the premium grade of gasoline sold at Phillip 66 service stations.

While dad was fueling the customer’s automobile, he was expected to clean all of the windows on the vehicle. Then he would check under the hood for the level of oil in the crankcase and the condition of key engine elements while the hood was open. The attendant then was expected to check the air in all of the customer’s vehicle tires.

Vacuum cleaners installed on fuel islands

Part of the promotion, that Phillips Petroleum instituted at their outlets, was to have their dealers install vacuum cleaners on the fuel islands of their service stations. My dad then vacuumed the front and rear of the customer’s car. Of course, after all this service, the attendant was expected to thank the customer for his business and invite them to visit our facility again.

After receiving all of the steps outlined by the Phillips Petroleum customer policy, the unknown motorist informed my father that he was the unknown motorist employed by Phillips Petroleum Company. Dad received a certificate of recognition from Phillips Petroleum and a monetary award of seventy five dollars. Seventy five dollars was a large monetary award in 1959.

Brune & Eaker opened in 1933

My father was in business with his partner, Louis (Louie) Brune, at 915 North Main Street from 1933 until Mr. Brune passed away in 1965. My dad remained in business until 1966 when he sold the business. In all the years that Mr. Brune and my father owned and operated their business, they were dealers for Phillips Petroleum Company.

Brune and Eaker Service Station was much more than a gasoline station. Normally Mr. Brune and my father worked daily at the station. The majority of the time there would be two to three mechanics employed that preformed all types of car repairs. Several young men worked the fuel islands, washed cars, changed tires and other light vehicle service.

Those who lived in the Red Star District remember that the Brune and Eaker service station was, in fact, two service stations. The original building was a small one-room building that had been added onto several times. After all of the construction, the building contained an additional two bays. One of the bays contained a hydraulic lift, plus there was a large outdoor hydraulic lift for trucks.

Main Street was moved, new station built

When the levee system was built in Cape Girardeau, Main Street was rerouted behind the original service station. A new service station had to be built to the rear of the original building. The new station contained a large office area and two new service bays, one with a hydraulic lift. A walkway connected the two building, resulting in a large work area.

The letter written by Brad Brune spoke of several other Eakers.

Orville (Peg) Eaker was the brother of my father, George Eaker Sr. Long-time residents of Cape Girardeau would remember Peg Eaker and his wife, Toots, as the owners of The Town Pump restaurant and bar on Main Street in downtown Cape. Jim Eaker was the son of Peg Eaker. Jim Eaker and his wife, Jean, ran the Town Pump for a short time.

The other Eaker mentioned in the letter was Eldon (Dib) Eaker. Dib was also a brother of George Sr. and Peg Eaker. Dib ran a business in Cape Girardeau for several years and was later employed by the city of Cape Girardeau for many years.

January 30, 2010September 22, 2021

Marquette Natatorium Getting Spruced Up?

Marquette Natatorium 10/20/2009

When I was in Cape in Fall of 2009, I made a swing by the Marquette Natatorium down by the cement plant. Wife Lila was interested in seeing the place because she, Jacqie (Bill) Jackson (66) and Dan Beatty (67) worked there as swimming instructors and lifeguards in the late 1960s.

My wife’s niece, Laurie Evertt (of Annie Laurie’s Antiques), mentioned that the Natatorium was one her favorite places. She sent me an email the other week that she was afraid that they might be getting ready to tear it down because there was some kind of work going on there.

Marquette Natatorium 01/29/2010

Today she sent me an photo that makes it look like the building is being pressure-cleaned, maybe to be repainted. That’s not the kind of work you do if you’re going to bulldoze it. Laurie apologized, unnecessarily, for the quality of the picture: “I had Fletcher (her toddler son) screaming in the car, so I did a drive-by.”

Natatorium Historical Factoids

I think I swam in the pool only one time. Still, I’ve always had an interest in the place. A natatorium, by the way, is defined as a structurally separate building containing a swimming pool.

The Southeast Missourian is a treasure trove of little factoids.

A city permit was issued to build the 70x 94-foot structure at a declared cost of $25,000 in 1937. It was to be located at the site of the former Marquette School Building. It was to be built of reinforced concrete, the roof would be concrete slab and the steam heating plant, wiring and plumbing would be included in the cost.
The Natatorium, built for the use of cement plant employees, was placed in service Feb. 16, 1938.
The July 14, 1938 Missourian proudly announced $330,362 in building construction for the year, including the following new buildings or expansions: St. Mary’s School, Lorimier School, the Natatorium, a new addition to the Rueseler Motor Company, the Jewish Synagogue and an expansion of the Buckner-Ragsdale building.
July 30, 1946: all swimming pools in Cape were temporarily closed until further notice and parents were urged to keep their children from swimming in ponds and creeks because of an outbreak of polio. Gerald Perry, 10, was taken to a St. Louis hospital after his left arm and shoulder were paralyzed. He was in a ward with two others. Twenty-seven youngsters were in a an isolation ward; three of them were in iron lungs.
Apr. 3, 1968: Cape department of Recreation acquires Natatorium and plans to keep pool open year-round. Mrs. Wm. Shambo, who conducted swimming clinics on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, said water ballet, additional swimming classes and public swimming would be added to the program. Water temperatures were to be maintained at 85 degrees.
Jan. 9, 1969: The city council ruled that the Natatorium would be open to Cape residents during the winter months again. It had been closed because of poor attendance. Only 200 swimmers used the pool in December, bringing in $72.50 in income; operating expenses are about $1,000 a month.

What is it used for today?

I couldn’t find any recent stories about what the building is being used for. At one time, I heard rumors that the pool had been floored over and the building was being used as housing for cement plant visitors. Later, I heard that it was being used for office space. I’d have to give more credence to the latter.

Anyone know the REAL answer? How many of you remember swimming in the Natatorium, either because your family worked at the cement plant or after the city took it over?

Updates

Click on the gray links to read them.

Here’s what the Natatorium looked like after its first coat of paint. The next day the job was finished when the black accents were added to the name.

Fred Lynch featured the Natatorium in his blog April 12, 2010.

January 29, 2010May 7, 2021

Johnny Rabbitt Day – March 13, 1966

Johnny Rabbitt petition drive

This caption ran under this photo in The Southeast Missourian’s Youth Page on March 2, 1966:

Five members of Cape Girardeau’s Teen-Age Club hold a petition containing the signatures of more than 1,000 high school pupils asking Johnny Rabbit, KXOK disc jockey, to come here March 13 to emcee a dance at the Arena Building. Money from the dance will be used to pay Teen Town operating expenses previously underwritten by the United Fund. A TAC spokesman said that the teens would like to pay their own expenses so that United Fund money could be used for “underprivileged families.” The youths above are, from left, Bruce Ashby, son of Alfred Ashby, 1502 New Madrid; Steve Robert, son of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robert, 1608 Perryville Rd.; Alan Hecht, son of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Hecht, 2416 Terry Hill; Miss Mary Wright, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Earnis Wright, 811 Perry, and Miss Jane McGinty, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Charles McGinty, 2435 Brookwood.

I was editor of the Youth Page at this time, and I used this photo as a four-column masthead for the page from time to time.

T or TT?

One thing that’s interesting is that both The Missourian and the photos show Johnny Rabbitt spelled with one T. All of the references I can find on the web show Rabbitt spelled with two Ts. I’ll stick with the two-T version.

Rabbitt’s real name was Don Pietromonaco. He was on the air at KXOK AM630, a 5,000-watt radio station, from 1963 to 1969, He died in 1997. Here’s a fairly good tribute site with more info.

I was a WLS Dick Biondi fan, myself

Dick Biondi (whose name I had never seen in print before writing this) came booming out of Chicago on 50,000-watt WLS. Go here to hear a clip of him. He is credited with being the first U.S. disc jockey to play the Beatles after he cranked up Love Me Do in February 1963. His signature song was On Top of a Pizza.

I had one of the first transistor radios to hit the market. It was a little bigger than a pack of cigarettes and used an earplug for a speaker. I can recall sitting at Camp Lewallen Boy Scout Camp listening to Biondi many a night. (I wore the radio when I was delivering newspapers, too. One day I walked up to a house to collect for the paper and the elderly woman looked at me, shook her head sadly, and said, “It’s a shame that a boy your age has lost his hearing.” She gave me a larger than usual tip, so I didn’t tell her it wasn’t a hearing aid.)

January 26, 2010April 13, 2021

It’ll Always Be Vandeven’s to Me

Howard’s Athletic Goods – October 2009

Howard’s Athletic Goods, which provided school PE uniforms and other sporting equipment to the community since 1947, moved diagonally across the Broadway – Pacific intersection in 2009. The original Howard’s building was torn down for Southeast Missouri University parking.

I didn’t really have many warm and fuzzy feelings about the old Howard’s building. I always thought it was a bit ugly and run-down looking.

Of course, it may also be that I never got over the trauma of having my Mother accompany me there to buy my first jockstrap for Central High School’s Physical Education class.

At least the boys got black shorts and orange / black reversible shirts that were better looking than those horrible green uniforms the girls had to wear. (I think the shirts were reversible or was the black side mold from when I forgot to take it out of my locker to have it washed?)

Howard’s may be there now, and other things have occupied that corner over the years, but the building at 835 Broadway will always be Vandeven’s to me.

Vandeven Mercantile Company 1894 – 1969

The building at 835 Broadway where Howard’s relocated was the original Vandeven Mercantile Company, founded in 1894 an operated until 1969.

Over the years since 1969, it’s been a number of different businesses. It was Craftsman Office Supply Co. long enough for The Missourian to call it the Craftsman Building.

The Grace Cafe moved in 2002. They had great sandwiches and fast Internet connections. I’d gravitate there to connect with my office at faster than dial-up speeds when I was in town on vacation. The upstairs was an art gallery.

I ate at Wayne’s Grill almost every day when I was a kid

My folks gave me permission to leave the Trinity Lutheran School grounds almost every day to walk up to Wayne’s Grill across from Vandeven’s. I’ll cover them in a later post.

On my way back, I’d stop in at Vandeven’s to pick up candy to resell to kids who couldn’t leave the campus and to kill time before going back to school.

Miss Blanche Brooks

My favorite person in the whole store was Miss Blanche Brooks. She had already been working in the store for more than a quarter century when I was a kid. There was another woman working the register, too, but Blanche was the one who would talk to a 10 or 12-year-old kid like his opinions mattered.

She may have even given me permission to call her by her first name. I don’t ever recall prefacing “Blanche” with Miss, and I didn’t know her last name until I did this research.

When a customer would come up to the register, I’d fade away until Blanche had tallied the order one item at a time on a big cash register. This was not a place where you would find a scanner or an electrical conveyor belt.

It also wasn’t a place where customers were rushed away. I got the feeling that a lot of the folks saw Vandeven’s as a social center where they could catch up on neighborhood gossip.

Skeets wrote the store’s obit

Cecelia “Skeets” Sonderman wrote a great obituary of the store when it was going to close April 5, 1969.

(Skeets, by the way, was a feisty broad (meant as a compliment), who covered government, education and courts in the days when women were usually relegated to the Pink Ghetto of tea parties and church news. Men who demeaned, patronized or underestimated the diminutive Skeets were apt to be found singing soprano in the church choir after Skeets was finished with them.)

Thanks for Google’s News Archive Search, you can read it straight off the microfilm.

Customer service was hallmark of Vandeven’s

The Missourian article said that the three owners, William Vandeven II, Edwin Vandeven and their sister, Elma A. Haas, were all born on the second floor above the family store.

Three employees, including Blanche, had been with the store for years, Skeets wrote. Blaine Swan had been there 43 years (in 1969); Charles Stimle had been there for 35 years. I imagine some of the photos in the gallery show those employees.

Elderly customers depended on Vandeven’s unique special services in the days before direct deposit of Social Security and pension checks. Vandeven’s would send delivery boys with cash to a customer’s home to cash his or her Social Security check. If a long-time customer wasn’t home when the delivery boy arrived, he would enter the home and place the perishables in the refrigerator.

You could buy almost anything at Vandeven’s

They had the usual range of groceries, but they also had their own butcher on premise. You could watch him wrestle slabs of meat and get exactly the cut you wanted.

Vandeven’s was said to be the first store to offer frozen foods.

At one time, shoes made up the bulk of sales. I can still remember seeing old-fashioned rubber galoshes on the shelves.

If they didn’t have it, you probably didn’t need it

Even before you stepped over the wooden door sill that was worn down from generations of foot traffic, you could get a sense of the wide variety of products available.

Bushel baskets of apples
Garbage cans
Vigoro Plant Food
Dairy products
Bakery products
Gumball machine and soft drink machine

Got a hankering for notions?

Nearly half the store was made up of material, sewing supplies, patterns and the like.

Gallery of photos

Here is a gallery of photos of the new Howard’s, the parking lot where the old Howard’s was and pictures that I hope will bring back memories of the Vandeven Mercantile Company. The Vandeven’s photos were taken February 4, 1967, when I must have stepped in for a visit. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or ride side of the picture to step through the gallery.