Cape Girardeau History and Photos

January 6, 2013June 23, 2015

71 Years ago

I make it a point to call Mother every Sunday night at 7:30. Now that I’m retired, I have a hard time keeping track of the days of the week, let alone the time, so I have an alarm set in my cellphone to remind me that it’s Sunday. When I made the call this week, Mother casually mentioned that Monday would mark 71 years since she and Dad got married in Advance.

I remember her saying that she and Dad had gone to a movie. When they got out, my grandfather, Roy Welch, told them that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. “If you kids are planning to get married, you’d better do it right away.”

Florida honeymoon

A month later, they were married and on their way to Florida for a honeymoon.

Dad was luckier than many men his age. He was working for a contractor who won defense contracts to build airfields and other essential projects, so he was deferred from the draft.

One of my favorite photos

This photo was part of a series I didn’t remember shooting. It’s one of my favorite shots of the two of them in our back yard in 1970. It’s obvious that they weathered well as a couple. I wrote about discovering the series just about this time last year.

You expect your parents to be there forever. When I shot this, none of us dreamed that Dad would be with us only another seven years. I guess that’s only partially true. He’ll live on forever in our memories.

Photo gallery of honeymoon

Here are some additional shots of the honeymoon from 71 years ago. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.

January 6, 2013January 6, 2013

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Looks like these boys could have used some more coaching about keeping their eyes on the ball. The sleeve says they were taken in 1965. You can click on the photos to make them larger.

My rookie mistake

I shouldn’t fault the boys: I made my own rookie mistake. I don’t know what I thinking when I framed the shots as verticals instead of horizontals. The action was moving ACROSS the frame, not up and down.

Brush back and zip down

He leaned back away from that pitch so far his pants unzipped.

Look how white those shoes are

Here’s a boy who is just dying to slide into second to get those whites a little dirty.

I wonder if any of these boys were in this picture the next year? It looks like the same field at Capaha Park.

January 4, 2013

Albert Hall Dormitory

When I saw Fred Lynch’s blog with Frony’s pictures of some coeds on the steps of Albert Hall in 1960, I remembered seeing photos of those steps in Mother’s scrapbook.

I wasn’t sure that it WAS Albert Hall, but that’s the way Mother had the photo labeled, and the concrete detail on the right of the picture matches Frony’s shot.

Albert Hall demolished in 1960

Fred had another photo from 1960 showing the dorm being razed. (SEMO is great at flattening landmarks.) Fred noted that the dorm for women opened March 7, 1905. It was built by a private corporation, and acquired by the state in 1912. It served for 54 years.

Mother graduated from Advance High School in 1938, so these photos of her friends was taken after that.

January 4, 2013

Cape County Courthouse

I posted photos and a video of the clock in the Jackson Courthouse this summer, but forgot that I was holding another stack of other photos. Thanks to IT director Eric McGowen and public works director Don McQuay for taking the time to let me poke around in the recesses of the Cape County Courthouse. It was one hot day when these pictures were taken, but I’d rather have done them in the summer than when the windchill was in the teens.

Earlier stories about the Courthouse

Courthouse 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.