Cape Girardeau History and Photos

June 19, 2014June 19, 2014

Many Sheets to the Wind

Wife Lila and Hilary, my former chief lab tech, were talking about clotheslines on Facebook the other day. Lila said, “I couldn’t do without mine. Whatever doesn’t have to be ironed goes on the line. On a breezy day, sheets dry in 10 minutes and look like they have been ironed.”

Hilary, who lives along Taylor Creek at the north end of Lake Okeechobee, said she hasn’t seen a clothesline in years, probably, she thought, because her homeowners association prohibits them.

Florida is a Right-to-Dry state

I pointed out to her that Florida is one of at least 19 states that prohibit restrictions on clotheslines under Florida Statute 163.04 which deals with “energy devices based on renewable resources.” Lila shot this video of Grandson Malcolm running through her laundry way back in 2007. The story with that information was written in 2012, so your state may have been added by now.

Want to buy a cheap clothes dryer?

Thinking about clotheslines made me remember a mailorder scam I read about from the ’50s. A wiseguy posted a bunch of ads offering to sell low-energy clothes dryers for $20. Some of the people who sent in their money only to receive a clothespin in return mail complained to the U.S. Postal Service about being ripped off. The feds said they were sorry, but a clothespin qualified as a low-energy clothes dryer, even if it’s not what they THOUGHT they were buying.

[Editor’s Note: notice how Grandmother Lila starts to call Malcolm by Son Adam’s name at the 50-second mark?]

June 18, 2014

The Warehouse

This photo was taken in January 1968, probably for the annual Missourian Achievement Edition, but I wasn’t sure where it was taken. There was no listing for “The Warehouse” in the 1969 City Directory, and the newspaper had a gazillion stories about generic, lower-case warehouses, so that was no help.

It had the feel of being near the Town Plaza Shopping Center and south of Central High School. You can get a sense of the old railroad line off on the left side of the building, and those look like Central’s practice fields at the corner of Independence and Caruthers beyond that. Click on the photo to make it larger.

When in doubt, turn to Google

When in doubt, turn to Google. I pulled up the Google Map for the general area, then started “driving” down the street with Streetview.

Google Streetview has a building that has a similar shape at 1810 Plaza Way East, but it appeared to have been enlarged. The 1979 City Directory has a listing for the Eagles Club at that address. That was probably when the building was expanded and the display windows covered up.

It’s in the neighborhood of Griff’s Burger Barn, which was also having a grand opening about this time.

Anyone have any more of the history of the building?

June 18, 2014

Beware Curators with Cookies

My Road Warriorettes have been coming through in a big way. A big box of cookies from Curator Jessica from the Athens County Historical Society and Museum arrived last week. This week it was a package of the best peanut brittle in the world that Anne Rodgers picked up on her way through Marianna, FL., on her move to Texas.

I got a text from Jessica this afternoon: “Awake?” She knows that I am a frequent napper, so she always checks before calling. When I gave her the OK, she made some small talk, then said, “OK, now for the bad news.”

I wondered if she was going to tell me that this sign was for her. I wasn’t looking forward to breaking in a new Curator Jessica. No, it wasn’t that.

No chance to take it easy

Then, I figured we had been turned down for a grant we had applied for. Nope, No news on that front.

“We’re taking down your Friends on Robinson Road exhibit on Monday, and we hoped you had something that we could replace it with.”

The first time I met Curator Jessica, I was about three hours out of Athens when she called to ask if I could pull off a major exhibit on Martin Luther King’s National Day of Mourning in three weeks. I liked her spirit, and we did it.

Three weeks is doable, but three days is stretching it, cookies or no cookies.

A tailor in 1968

We agreed that one that focused on Athens downtown landmarks, particularly where I could contrast photos from the late ’60s and early ’70s with contemporary pictures would be something quick to pull off. That’s why you get to see tailor Frank Richey looking our over Court street on December 21, 1968.

Frank’s building in 2013

Frank is long gone, but the building his shop was in survives.

So, instead of a normal post, you’re going to see a huge data dump of the photos we’re considering. We figure the 100-plus photos here will cut down to about 30 when all is said and done. Not shown are two panoramas I shot last fall. They are going to be almost four feet wide by about 10 inches tall.

Waiting for Anne to call

If I see Anne’s Caller ID show up on my phone, I’m going to be slow to pick up. No telling what she’s going to want me to do for my package of peanut brittle.

Athens, Ohio, photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then navigate through it using your arrow keys.

June 16, 2014

Dick McClard’s Many Talents

Wife Lila’s Class of ’66 buddy Dick McClard and I are political oil and water. We enjoy sparring with each other, but we can do it without rancor and with good humor. What I’m beginning to realize is that he’s a man of many talents.

We started talking last year about what he thought was a lead on where the mass grave from the steamboat The Stonewall might be located. Weather and pressing business kept us from getting out there until this trip.

When I stopped by his house for the ramble, he invited me into his stained glass studio where his wife, Judy, and daughter, Jennifer, were doing restoration work on stained glass windows for the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Annunciation. Dick was responsible for getting me into the church before it opened after a major renovation project.

Here, he’s showing how Belinda Schearf has been creating color window panes by building up and firing multiple layers of different colors. This is a technique used in the huge eyebrow window in the other photos.

More than just a glass guy

Dick is quite the historian, too. He and some other folks have collaborated in tracking 40,000 McClard/McLard/McLaird/MacLaird and Related Families from 1767 through 2003 (and growing). Volume One, an interesting history even if you aren’t a McClard, is 499 pages long; Volume II, an index and family tree listing, is 1,049 pages long. It’s available in pdf format because printing it would be too costly, he said.

We spent the day roaming Cape and Perry counties, poking around in old cemeteries, meeting oldtimers he knew and avoiding political discussions. Oh, and we’re not sure if we located the mass grave we started out looking for. We’re going to have to check back on that.

Glass studio photo gallery

If you walk into St. Mary’s some day and see these window pieces, think of Dick and his family. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to navigate through he gallery.