Cape Girardeau History and Photos

January 16, 2014

Downtown from the Air

When I ran the picture of the Town Plaza from the 1962 Girardot, I commented that the shopping center wasn’t much different than downtown’s Main Street, except that it had ample and free parking.

That got me to thinking of this 2011 aerial of the Old Town Cape shopping area. You don’t realize how compact Cape Girardeau is until you see that downtown was essentially bounded by Broadway on the north and Independence on the south. Themis hit a dead end at Spanish at the foot of the Common Pleas Courthouse hill. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

Not a lot of changes

There are a few buildings gone and a few new buildings, but the aerials from the middle to late 1960s look remarkably like the 2011 photo.

This post has a collection of links to stories about Main Street businesses.

January 16, 2014

Town Plaza Shopping Center

I usually don’t run photos that aren’t mine, but I saw this ad in my 1962 Girardot and figured the list of businesses would trigger some memories. The shopping center turned 50 in 2010, if you want to feel old.

Western expansion was a reason for the success of the Town Plaza, but I suspect the biggest draw (other than being the New Thing) was ample free parking. Outside of that, it was a row of businesses, just like Main Street.

The Mall killed the Town Plaza

The Westpark Mall offered what the Town Plaza didn’t: an inclosed shopping area where you could go from store to store in climate-controlled comfort. It was a destination where you could eat, sit and people-watch as well as shopping, all without sweating or freezing.

This aerial, looking to the northwest toward I-55, was taken April 17, 2011. Click on the photos to see more detail

Hitt Cemetery

Mother and I were on our way home from Advance or somewhere southwest of Cape when I spotted a side road I didn’t recognize near Arbor. I turned north on CR 262, then took a quick right onto CR 261. I found Hitt Cemetery on the south side of the road about a mile further on, just before you get to a curve.

A cold day in December

It was a cold day in December 2011, the shadows were getting long and the wind was whipping around. I put the Hitt Cemetery down on my list for a warmer day, but I haven’t been back down CR 261 since then.

Someone named Valerie Holifield took the time to document 75 of the graves in the cemetery. Sue Kinder wasn’t listed because Ms. Holifield did her survey in 2002.

I’m intrigued by photos

I’ve been collecting pictures of tombstones with photos on them. Hitt had at least two.

A splash of color

The Dunning marker brought a splash of color to the cold day.

The Find a Grave website has 83 internments listed, with photos of about 41% of them.

January 13, 2014

Chemcraft Magic and Plastics

Sometime after Lincoln Logs and before cameras came my science phase. Dad and Mother gave me increasingly larger and more complex chemistry sets, including one that contained radioactive materials. I also had a couple of microscopes, ranging from not too good to pretty decent.

This must have been a supplemental manual for one of the earlier sets. It was aimed at preparing the budding chemist to be able to wow his (the chemistry sets were aimed at boys) family and friends.

Exciting and mystifying experiments

Experiment 35 – A chemical smoke screen: Put 3 or 4 measures of Amonium Chloride (No. 9) on a spoon and heat it over a flame. In a few moments it will begin to give off thick clouds of smoke which will continue until the substance is entirely volatilized. [If you REALLY want to see something volatile and smoking, wait until your mother sees what you did to her spoon.]

Experiment 56 – How to make a disagreeable odor: Place 4 measures of Sulfur (#1) in a test tube and add a piece of candle about 1/8 inch long. Heat the test tube over a flame, and after a minute notice the disagreeable odor of the evolved gas. The gas is hydrogen sulfide, which has an odor resembling that encountered when a rotten egg is broken. [It also reminds me of the gym showers after PE.]

Experiment 67 – Changing a dime to a penny: Dissolve 2 measures of Azurite (No. 39) and 5 measures of Sodium Bisulfate (No. 7) in a test tube half full of water. Pour this into a clean glass and place a bright silver coin and a small piece of iron in the solution. (A small nail will work very well.) Be sure the iron touches the coin. In a few moments, the coin will be covered with a red coating of copper. By means of this experiment, you can easily change your friends’ dimes into pennies. [Of course, we changed copper coins into “silver” ones by applying mercury to the coins in the chem lab, something that would bring guys in moon suits running these days.]

I didn’t have a turban

I managed to do the experiments, but couldn’t come up with a turban or an “Ethiopian slave” to be my alchemist’s assistant, hence I didn’t give any public performances. The Chemcraft people knew that any boy who was fooling around with a chemistry set wouldn’t have a shot at attracting a pretty girl as an assistant, so that subject wasn’t even broached.

Plastics

Here is a snippet from one of my favorite movies:

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.

Benjamin: Yes, sir.

Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?

Benjamin: Yes, I am.

Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

Yep, it’s from the 1967 movie The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross. It’s fascinating to read how many different actors were considered before the directors settled on those three. It also makes me feel old when I read that Ross was born in 1940 and will be 74 on January 29.

The Future is Plastics

“The most extensive use of plastics ever undertaken in railway car construction was shown to railroad men recently (looks like they didn’t make railroad women in those days). Plastic was combined with fibrous glass to mold the 44 double seats, luggage compartment, baggage racks, car steps, ceiling and interior side panels, end doors, exterior bottom trim, battery boxes and washroom unit, including toilet, sink, radiator grill and wall. The use of plastics in this car results in the lightest weight per passenger of any railway passenger car ever built, yet meets all the strength and safety requirements of the Association of American Railroads.

“…The day is not too far distant when planes will fly on plastic wings.”

Did you hear that Benjamin?

Speaking of Benjamins, I saw a website where a reproduction of the Magic manual was going for $15.