Cape Girardeau History and Photos

April 18, 2013May 9, 2016

Alice Godwin at Cape Airport

I shot Alice Godwin at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport on April 12, 1967, but I can’t find the story that I know ran. I looked at every Missourian over a three-week period and couldn’t find a single word about her or why she was putting a plaque in a showcase.

For what it’s worth, this is a nice portrait of a woman in a cockpit. I’m sure I didn’t use fill flash, so I must have gotten lucky with an overcast sky that kept it from being too contrasty.

Not-bad plaque picture

If you have to shoot a cliche picture, you might as well do it well. This is better than average. I just wish I could read what the plaque says.

Like Terry Eiler, my Magazine and Newspaper Photography instructor wrote across one of my college assignments, “Congratulations. You are now a better than average hack.”

First thought was Powder Puff Derby

My first thought was maybe this might have been related to when the Powder Puff Derby came to Cape in 1966, but I couldn’t confirm it.

Here are some aviation stories from over the years.

[Editor’s note: I originally identified this woman as Alice Higgins, but David Seesing set me straight: “The lady in the photo is Alice Godwin wife of John Godwin. John and J.T. Seesing owned Cape Central Airways. Alice and John competed and won numerous aviation competitions. I have since updated the post.]

April 17, 2013April 18, 2013

Drops of Rain

I had four situations on a roll of film: the St. Charles Hotel, the Indpendence traffic jam, the actual assignment (I’ll publish it later) and this random shot of rain drops.

I probably shot the assignment at the airport, then cruised around looking for stuff to burn up the rest of the roll.

There were four frames of the raindrops, but I like this one with a drop making its escape at the bottom the best.

The key to shooting something like this is to shoot so that only the important part of the photo is sharp. I probably used a 105mm or 200mm telephoto set at a wide aperture so there would be very little depth of field – in other words only a little of the frame would be sharp.

Through a screen fuzzily

This looks like it was shot though the screen on our side porch. It’s interesting, but not interesting enough that I was going to spend much time spotting out some ugly scratches at the bottom.

Nikon D7000

I got a box in the mail Tuesday with a shiny Nikon D7000 in it. I mentioned that my Nikon D3100 started hiccuping on my way back from Cape in March. I thought it might have gotten a bit sticky from experiencing cold weather. It turned out that a piece had been rattling around for almost a year after I crashed on my bike. It’s been out of service for a couple of weeks and a couple of hundred bucks.

(By the way, if you are interested in buying those cameras, click on the links and I’ll get a piece of the action to help pay for MY camera. Also BTW, the first link to the Nikon D7000 is for a body by itself. If you want the basic Nikkor 18-55mm lens with it, you’d go here.)

It dawned on me that had it crapped out at the beginning of the trip instead of the end, I’d have been in a lot of trouble. That gave me an excuse to buy a second, much improved camera body. That will also mean I don’t have to switch lenses when I use the 55-200mm lens birthday present the boys bought me.

The only thing is that I’ve had it almost 12 hours and I haven’t had the nerve to so much as put the camera strap on it. The operating manual is about as thick as War and Peace and just about as easy to understand as the Russian language version of the book.

I long for the days when I could eyeball the exposure, focus on what was important and change the shutter speeds and f/stops by feel. The camera shouldn’t be smarter than the photographer.

Wow, half a century

I was talking with the Athens County Historical Society Museum curator Jessica Cyders this morning. She was putting together a bio for an upcoming exhibit and wanted to know when I got into the newspaper business. “April 17 – HEY! That’s today – 1963. I was 16 and didn’t even have my driver’s license when my first picture appeared on the front page of The Missourian.” Today would have been my Dad’s birthday, too. He would have been 96, which puts him on the verge of being old.”

April 16, 2013

Independence Traffic Jam

Yes, children, we had traffic jams in Cape in The Old Days. I shot this one on Independence looking toward Kingshighway on the same day I shot the demolition of the St. Charles Hotel, April 13, 1967.

It took some headscratching to figure out where it was taken. The key landmarks were the bridge over Cape LaCroix Creek, the Wiethop Truck Sales sign, the highway sign pointing to Hwy 61 and the car dealership way off in the background.

I must have been using my 200mm telephoto lens. That would have accounted for the way everything is compressed and looks closer than it really is.

The only thing that’s still there is Wiethop. Moon Distributing Company and Pollack Hide and Fur, which don’t show at that intersection, are long gone. Harris Motor Company has become Aldi’s. The area off to the right contains Kmart, Schnucks, Walgreen Drugs and some other stores.

And, that traffic-jammed two-lane road has become four lanes with a suicide center turn lane.

April 15, 2013February 27, 2015

Razing St. Charles Hotel

These are a present to the SEMO student working on the Main Street Project who drew the St. Charles Hotel as a subject.

These photos were taken April 13, 1967, when it was all over for the historic hotel used as General Grant’s HQ during the Civil War.

Businesses to the south

I tried to read the painted sign on the building south of the hotel, but I can’t quite make it out. It might be Sherman’s.

The City Directory lists Irvin’s Clothing at 39 North Main. That would be the vertical black sign with the white letters. Below it is a sign advertising Arrow Shirts. That could belong to Irvin’s or it might be for Main Street Clothing, which was at 35 North Main in 1968. Dolly’s Hat Shop was in the directory at 37 North Main.

Personal Finance Loans was at 31 North Main. You can see its sign. The directory lists Tony’s Jewelry and Thrift at the same address. The Sweet Shop was at 33 North Main, but I can’t see a sign for that business.

Sterling Variety Store was 41 North Main

The building that replaced the hotel was Sterling Variety Store, and it’s listed at 41 North Main.

Across the street you can see Lee Optical and Co-Op Drugs. I assume the Budweiser sign marks Cowboy’s Tavern.

St. Charles a month earlier

I took this picture of the St. Charles waiting for the wrecking ball on March 11, 1967. You can see more photos and read some history of the hotel here.