Some things, like SEMO’s Academic Hall never seem to change. This is what it looked like April 15, 2011. You can click on the pictures to make them larger.
Academic Hall 1966ish
Cape Girardeau was a black and white town in the middle ’60s.
Speaking of that, I’ve been talking about sending out a book proposal. I was putting the final touches on it Sunday night (Monday morning deadline, but, of course, I wouldn’t procrastinate) when I noticed that none of the books I had seen by this publisher had any color in them. When I shipped off the package, I asked the editor if they were a black and white publisher only. The sad answer was, yes. Because most of their books are old images from dusty archives, they don’t run color.
I thanked them for considering me, then withdrew my proposal. Looks like it’ll be a little longer before you have a chance to hold something in your hands. It’s gonna happen, but not as soon as I had hoped.
2012 Academic Hall renovation
Brother Mark slowed his car down long enough to snap a few frames of repair work being done at Academic Hall.
Academic Hall terraces
You can see the green terraces that Major James Frances Brooks designed for Louis Houck and that showed up in photos of the 1967 graduation ceremonies.
Terraces from Mother’s scrapbook
Here are the terraces from Mother’s scrapbook. The photo was probably taken in the late ’30s or early 1940s. Note the old car in the shadows.
I started school at SEMO in 1967 and had several classes in Academic Hall my four years there. I loved the chimes coming from the building and used to sled down the hills when there was enough snow to do so. When I went back to SEMO as a graduate assistant in 1975, I taught swimming classes in the pool in the basement. I even would use my access key to go there in the middle of the night sometimes. There were nursing classes in the basement there for years. I was told they filled in the old pool and I don’t know what is there now. Also, my late friend Don Kreuger ran the computer department located in the basement across the hall from the pool until he died.I hope they don’t change that old building too much. It holds a lot of good memories for me.
They’re taking out the steps?? What are they going to replace them with—escalators?? C’mon, that was a part of our physical fitness training in going to Semo! That, and Cardiac Hill!!
Are they going to “Wimpify” Semo???
(This is Mary) A few years ago, when one of my nephews was about 6 or so, my mother, youngest sister (the mother of the 6 year old) and and other relatives were watching some of my dad’s old 35mm b & w slides. When they finished, the nephew asked his mom, “When did the world get colored?”
Thanks for the pics of Academic Hall. They bring back many memories. During my senior year (’59-’60) I worked on the maintenance staff before class hours and after. I remember being able to go up in the dome and watch the sunrise or sunset and other beautiful sites from that elevation. It was also fascinating to see the inside stucture under the green dome.
Also, that was where them music department was located on the west end of the basement floor, before they moved to the new building (in those days) behind it.
During the snowy winters, the terrace was a favorite place to slide down (as long as you avoided the trees).
Ken,
Thanks for the trip back to memory lane.
I too had quite a few classes in AHall and worked in the college printshop for a couple of years that was housed in the baasement in the old gymnasium. We shared it with the secretarial pool that typed all the prof’s tests. Made going thru the trash for the memo masters quite benificial. You of course had to be able to read in reverse. The restrooms had some great grafiti, years of it as I remember.
Wow! I don’t know why they had to build all those other buildings….seems like everything happened in the basement of Academic Hall. I too remember typing and accounting classes in the basement during the mid 1960’s. And Mary, my granddaughter was looking at an old picture of me recently and wanted to know why it was in gray!!
Central High Class of ’54 had commencement at Academic Hall. As a girl of five or six, I saw my first stage production there and it was magical.