This General Sign Company invitation to “Stop ‘n Shop – Turn Right Foot of Bridge to Downtown Cape Giardeau takes us back to the day when Main Street was THE shopping area for the region. The photo is part of the collection Terry Hopkins loaned me from his dad’s job at General Sign Company.
The sign must have been located in East Cape since that’s the only place a “Turn Right” would make sense.
See the smokestacks?
When the picture is blown up, you can see two smokestacks off to the right, one of them puffing black smoke.
The cement plant would have been way off to the left, so these stacks must belong to the shoe factory and the power plant north of it. I’m not sure what the white building off to the far right would be. Click on the photos to make them larger.
Here’s what they would have found
If our shopper had turned right, this is what they would have encountered. Follow this link to see other downtown stories. Here is a collection of links to stories about Main Street businesses and buildings.
You are right Ken…this was on the Illinois side in a field that flooded at times..
That sign would have been on the north side of IL 146, so those smokestacks would have been north of downtown. With that in mind, that would definitely make the smokestack on the left the shoe factory and the smokestack on the right the Missouri Utilities power plant.
Based on the proximity of the levee in the background, the sign was pretty close to the levee. Additionally the parallax between the two smokestacks sets an angle that would most likely make the white structure the water tank that sits behind the Cape Water Plant on Cape Rock Drive. There has always been a clearing to the east – southeast of that tank that provides of view of the river and Illinois from the tank.