Photos around Cape Archives

September 1, 2010October 7, 2021

Pi Kappa Alpha’s Fire Truck

The question is, how many guys does it take to look at a fraternity fire truck? I thought that maybe it was coming in for the Free Safety Check promised by the sign, but some of the other photos make it look like the truck might have had an owie.

Goodyear service?

I don’t recognize the store, but “Larry” has a Goodyear patch above his left pocket. Looks like the front bumper might have needed straightening. There’s a television shop and an ice center next door. Anyone have any idea where this was? I wonder how much the $1.19 brake special would cost today?

Why are Pike fire trucks red?

This is the explanation I found: because a fire truck has a driver; a driver has a foot; a foot has 12 inches; 12 inches is a ruler; a ruler was Queen Mary; Queen Mary was a ship; a ship sails the seas; the seas have fish; the fish have fins; the Finns fought the Russians, and the Russians are Red, so, therefore, a firetruck must be red.

Glad I could clear that up.

I’m not sure when these photos were taken. My guess is 1967. You don’t see the front Pike license tag on a photo of the the fire truck in the 1966 Homecoming Parade.

September 1, 2010

Rueseler Chevrolet 1966

I shot these photos of Rueseler’s Motor Company, better known as Rueseler’s Chevrolet, in the summer of 1966. The signature cowboy with blazing six-guns reminds me of the iconic Bunny Bread mascot.

Chevrolet dealer at night

I shot some of the photos in the daytime, then went back at dusk to try to get the signature cowboy to show up. My attempt was only marginally successful.

“Trusty Chevy II,” “Sporty Corvair”

The building looks new, so the photos could have been taken for an ad or a business column. I thought it would be easy to find stories about Rueseler’s, but a couple of ads were the only thing to pop up in the Google archives. This July 1966 Missourian advertisement tried to entice you buy a “sporty Corvair.” Those are two words I’m not sure I’d use together.

How do you like the Eggimann’s offer to sell you an air conditioner for $3.00 a week?

Blazing Chevrolet deals

I’m not sure what’s in the building on Kingshighway these days. I’ll have to check it out when I go back to Cape in October for Mother’s Birthday Season.

August 31, 2010

Castor River Bridge

Some of the boys jumping off the Castor River bridge on a hot summer day in 1964 clearly think they are Number One.

I probably shot these for The Jackson Pioneer. The film sleeve is dated 7/31 + 8/1/67 and has some photos of a swim meet on it, so I must have shot one assignment on one day for The Pioneer and then did a freelance job for The Missourian on the next.

She’s at least 40 feet above the water

If you figure the boy in the photo in front of the car is five feet and change tall, she has to be at least 25 feet above the bridge deck; the bridge deck, in turn, is at least 12 or 15 feet above the water. That’s an impressive height.

Getting up there is a challenge

The negative sleeve says the photos were taken at Castor River. As best as I can recall, that that was west of Jackson, near Millersville, on Rt. 72. If I’m wrong, please correct me.

Child endangerment?

How old IS that kid? He doesn’t even look like he’s a teenager. Can you imagine what would happen if somebody would see that today?

Picnic lunch in the shade

The older folks are busy cooking up a picnic lunch in the shade while the kids are jumping 40 feet off the top of a bridge over a two-lane highway.

Boys AND girls equal risk-takers

I don’t think that many Cape kids went there. It seemed more of a Jackson hangout.

Less risky frolicking

Not everybody was doing high-rise diving. Some were content to splash around in the shallows.

Did YOU ever dive off the bridge?

I was happy watching the other folks. I’ve gone off the high dive at the Capaha Park pool, but I’m not sure I’d want to dive off a bridge, even at deck level, if nobody’s chasing me.

August 29, 2010February 21, 2015

SEMO Football Trampoline and Mascots

When I did a piece on Griff’s Burger Bar the other day, some folks reminisced a trampoline place in Cape. About the same time as that, I happened across these two frames shot at a SEMO football practice.

I don’t know if the trampolines were set up for the football players or if they were for something else.

Is that trampoline safe?

The supports and springs on that trampoline don’t look like they’d hold up the weight of the football players we see today. Maybe the SEMO Indians in those politically incorrect days were skinnier than the current crop.

Chief Sagamore turned into Rowdy Redhawk

Wife Lila was confused by my “politically incorrect” comment. In an attempt to be more sensitive to Native Americans, the university changed its mascot from Indians/Otahkians to Redhawks; the university newspaper dropped “Capaha” from its name and is now known as simply The Arrow.

Chief Sagamore, shown here in front of the Marquette Hotel during the 1966 Homecoming Parade down Broadway, has been replaced by Rowdy Redhawk.

Chief Sagamore moved to Chaonia Landing Resort

The local NPR station, KRCU, has a great feature called Almost Yesterday. It mentioned that there was a 22-foot fiberglass statue of an Indian Chief at the top of Houck Stadium. The statue originally graced the War Drum Resturaunt in Sikeston (which briefly became the location of the second Lambert’s Resturaunt (“Home of Throwed Rolls)). I’m not sure I have any photos of the Chief.

When “Indians” became taboo, Chief Sagamore was exiled to storage. He was later sold to the owners of the Chaonia Landing Resort at Lake Wappapello, where he was lifted to the top of the lookout above the resort.