Three’s a Crowd

Glouster Fair 08-12-1970I was scanning the 1970 Athens, Ohio, fair this afternoon and ran across this picture that captures a universal fair experience. I’m sure you could see the same thing at the Southeast Missouri District Fair.

If I remember correctly, I covered about 13 fairs like this in The Athens Messenger’s circulation area. And, that’s not counting the settler’s reunions, centennial celebrations, homecomers and high school parades.  When Nancy, my help desk person at The Post, wanted to know if I was going to the South Florida Fair, I told her I had long ago been to all the fairs I hoped to ever see in my lifetime.

[Update: I had originally written these photos were taken at Glouster, but my eagle-eyed friends at the Athens Historical Society said they were of the Athens County Fair. I made the mistake because the first negative sleeve said “Glouster Fire” with the word “Fair” on the line under it. I assumed that I had shot both a fire AND a fair in Glouster. All the subsequent rolls just said “Fair.”

See, I can be wrong in more states than just Missouri.

Photo Gallery of Athens Fair

I was going to run just the one photos, but, what the heck, these were already edited. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the sides of the images to move through the gallery. (You’ll understand, won’t you, if I don’t come along to the fair with you?)

Central vs Chaffee Baseball

Central High School vs Chaffee baseball 04-29-1967As usual, I’m confused. The negative sleeve said CHS vs Chaffee 4/29/67, the uniforms say Central and Chaffee and the school in the background looks like Central, but The Missourian’s sport section said Notre Dame was playing Chaffee and Central was playing Oran. So, like the cheating husband who got caught said, “Who are you going to believe me, or your lying eyes?”

Even if you don’t recognize the players, I’m sure somebody out there will recognize the cars in the background.

Have to have hands in pockets

Central High School vs Chaffee baseball 04-29-1967It looks like you can’t watch the game unless you have your hands in your pockets or your arms crossed.

Photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.

St. Augustine Catholic Church

St Augustine Catholic Church 02-03-2013_1919

I thought I had already run these photos of Kelso’s St. Augustine Catholic Church, but I must have held them to keep from overdosing on church pictures when I ran the church photos earlier in the year.

New Hambug St. Lawrence Catholic Church

Oran’s Guardian Angel Catholic Church

About the only quick information I could find online about the church was that it was founded in 1878.

St. Augustine Catholic Church photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery. (If the gallery looks different than what you’re used to seeing, it’s because the old program quit working.)

Klostermann Block

Klostermann Block on S Spanish 04-07-2011What has been called the “Klostermann Block” never flew above my radar. I guess I never had any business there.

The building on the west side of Spanish Street south of Independence is on the National Register of Historic Places for some of its unique features. If you are interested in Cape history and architecture, it’s worth a read.

Who was Klostermann?

Klostermann Block on S Spanish 04-07-2011

More interesting to me than the building is Louis F. Klostermann, who was born in Germany in 1837. He arrived in Cincinnati in the 1850’s and clerked in a dry goods store there. He came to Cape in 1860 and was wounded in the Battle of Vicksburg in 1862. He returned to Cape and was appointed postmaster. In 1882, he was one of 18 prominent citizens who formed the Cape Girardeau Building and Loan Association.

He served as State Representative in 1884 and 1885. When he returned from doing that, he bought Rockport Hall, the mansion of Josef Hoche on South Spanish. It was torn down in the 1930s to build the Knights of Columbus building.

In 1887, he purchased all the assets of Warren and Bierwirth Manufacturing and Merchandising Company on Spanish Street. He began operating a store there as the “Bee” Store, which was described as “one of Cape Girardeau’s chief mercantile establishments” in 1915. He also owned the former Cape Girardeau Woolen Mill which generated the first electric power in town.

He invested in several manufacturing enterprises, including the Cape Girardeau Box and Veneer Company and the Cape Girardeau Foundry.

This building is all that is left

Klostermann Block on S Spanish 04-07-2011After the turn of the century, he built the the commercial block next to his “Bee” Store for rental purposes. He had the old mill building enlarged into a modern factory which became the Ely and Walker Shirt Factory Number 2. He invested heavily in the Cape Girardeau Water and Electric Light Company and in the 1906 Southeast Missouri Trust Company. After his death in 1909, his widow continued his commercial activity through 1929, when she sold the buildings.

Of all the buildings associated with Louis Klostermann, only his rental building here remains. His home was demolished for the KC Hall, his Bee Store was destroyed by fire in 1989 and his factory burned in 1913.