Cape Girardeau History and Photos

September 11, 2012November 12, 2016

Our Pearl Harbor

It was our generation’s Pearl Harbor. I wasn’t going to write about it because everybody else in the world is going to do “where I was stories.” To get THAT out of the way, I was in Cape. Mother said something about a building on fire in New York. I looked at the TV and thought, just like I had when I first saw the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City in flames on April 19, 1995, that it was a gas explosion. Soon, in both cases, we discovered a darker reason for the flames: terrorism.

The scramble to get home

I called Wife Lila in West Palm Beach and we shared our fears.

I hurried to a Cape gas station to fill up for a quick trip back to Florida. I wasn’t sure if gas was going to be available – or how much it was going to cost – for the return.

On the way south, I drove under an overpass near Nashville that had a massive American Flag hanging from it. I’ve never seen so many flags flying. I also noticed that drivers were more polite – they’d give you a wave to let you know it was OK to pull out and you’d acknowledge it in kind.

Where was the shared sacrifice?

Of course, that only lasted for a short while. Instead of experiencing the shared sacrifices of World War II, we were told to go shopping. Instead of cutting back on energy consumption, we demonstrated our patriotism by hanging “Support our Troops” magnetic ribbons on the back of gas-guzzling SUVs. Instead of drafting a cross-section of American society, putting everybody at risk, we had a volunteer army that meant it was unlikely that you had any literal skin in the game. Politicians like Rudy Giuliani whose sentences, according to Joe Biden, consist of “a noun, a verb, and 9/11” wrapped themselves in the flag and rushed us into two wars for dubious reasons.

Osama Bin Laden, for the price of 19 airline tickets, managed to cripple our economy and made us give up freedoms and privacy. Mission accomplished.

Flags still thrill me

Still, as I travel across this great land, I’m still thrilled to see our Flag flying. These were taken at the North County Park, Overbey Farms outside Murray, Ky., the Jackson City Hall and a florist in Gastonia, NC. These are AMERICAN flags. They don’t belong to politicians and political parties and they should be used to unite, not divide us.

September 10, 2012

A.C. Vasterling Building

I went to get something out of my van parked at Broadway and Fountain when I noticed a cornerstone for the first time: A.C. Vasterling 1903, it read.

It was on a light-colored three-story building next to where the Idan-Ha Hotel used to stand. A quick search didn’t turn up about Mr. Vasterling, except that it sounded like he had been a mayor at one time. There was a Google-scanned document called Barrel and box and packages, Volume 19, by Edgar Harvey Defebaugh that had this brief item that made it sound like Vasterling was a mover and shaker:

Himmelberger – Vasterling wedding

Charles A. Himmelberger, of Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Miss Louise Marguerite Vasterling were married June 16 [possibly 1914]. Mr. Himmelberger is the son of J.H. Himmelberger, the well-known lumberman of southeast Missouri and president of the Hardwood Manufacturers of the United States. The bride is a daughter of A.C. Vasterling, one of the best-known insurance men of Missouri.

Dinner party for newlyweds

A Missourian story on January 2, 1920, carried this brief: Mrs. Charles Himmelberger entertained at a dinner party last night at her home at 325 North Sprigg street in honor of Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Vasterling, who were married on Christmas day. Mrs. Laura Pape, Miss Lizzie Vasterling and Mrs. J.F. Williams were the other guests present.

Firsts of 1920

In the same paper was this lists of “firsts” of 1920:

First Baby – Marguerite Oliver Dearmont, 9:30 a.m. Jan. 1.
First Death – Mrs. Mary Herbst at her home, as clocks announced arrival of new year.
First Accident – Albert Mason, fireman, badly burned at 4 p.m., Jan. 1.
First Court Case – Suit of a hound dog, won by Cicero Estes.
First Snow – 2 a.m., Jan. 2

September 9, 2012August 2, 2021

A Plane in Every Garage

Oliver Parks predicted in 1944 that flying would become as much a part of our lives as having an automobile. So, how do you like that airplane and your neighborhood flying field? We’ll get around to that in a minute. (Click on any photo to make it larger.)

When I was looking for information on the Dollar Store, I happened to spy a June 19, 1946, story that said, in part, two Cape Girardeau men – Eddie Erlbacher and Oscar Windisch – have purchased 55 of the remaining airplanes at Harris Field [now the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport]. The purchase included the fuselage, wings and landing gear; the engines had been removed and retained by the government.

Going to salvage landing gears

Twenty-two of the planes were the AT-10 twin-engine ship used as an advanced trainer. Eight were A-25 Helldiver dive bombers. The buyers took the ships at an average cost of $35 each. The men plan to use the landing gear in making agricultural and commercial type trailers for moving livestock and farm equipment.

“There are only 111 salable ships left at the field out of the 1,200 originally there. Of this number there are 48 of the PT-23 models, 30 Timms biplanes, 14 twin engine UC-78, or twin engine models, 15 AT-17 twin engine ships and four of the dive bombers.”

One thing led to another, and I found the following story, written two years earlier. (By the way, the City of Cape Girardeau website has a brief history of Harris Field, which became the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport.)

Future of aviation after World War II

On July 6, 1944, The Missourian did a Q & A with Oliver L. Parks, head of Parks Air, which operates Harris Field [Cape Municipal Airport] and four other flying schools, who described what aviation will mean once the war is over. It’s worth reading the full story about his flying predictions. Here is a boiled-down version of the more interesting parts of the interview.

Neighborhood landing fields

Q: Would acquisition of Harris Field answer Cape’s flying needs completely?

A: No… For private flying, Cape Girardeau would want two or three small landing fields right on the edge of the residence district. Motoring is so much a part of social and business life today that our garages are a few steps from our front door; yes, in many instances, the garage is part of the home. Flying will become just as much a part of daily existence in the future. Therefore, the private flier will want his airplane hangered just across the road, if possible. In other words, we will be demanding neighborhood landing fields, small airports with turf runways, with landing surfaces 1000 to 1500 feet long and about 300 to 400 yards wide….

I’ll fly out of my back yard?

Q: Do you mean to tell me that I’ll be flying my own airplane in the future, practically out of my own back yard?

A: To be sure, you will be flying your own plane, but as to your own back yard, I don’t happen to know how large it is. If your back yard will accommodate runways of the brief length outlined, you could be flying your airplane – and your wife and grown children – today… As soon as air combat requirements ease up, production of … airplanes will be resumed – cozy, two-place little airplanes that will carry yourself and your wife, plus 100 pounds of luggage, on weekend visits to your friends in neighboring towns, at 100 miles per hour, on gasoline cost that can be figured at the rate of 25 miles per gallon; or, if you have a favorable wind, at that much less.

Locate a field at Country Club?

Q: Where would you suggest these fields be located?

A: At the country club, for the first one, perhaps. Then, wherever sufficient ground can be obtained at a reasonable price southwest of town, right on the edge of town.

Commercial Flights

There would be scheduled commercial flights to and from Cape and St. Louis and Chester (17-minute flying time), Cairo (9 minutes).

The Dollar Store

Mother said this building at the intersection of Cape Rock and Country Club Drives used to be called the Dollar Store. She thought someone named “Dollar” owned and operated it, but she couldn’t be sure.

A quick search of the Missourian in the Google archives came up blank except for a real estate ad dated June 19, 1946, for a “large lot on Cape Rock Drive located just across road from Dollar Store.” So, it was a prominent enough local landmark that it was used for giving directions.

I DID turn up a couple of other cool stories in that day’s paper that I’ll share soon. They deserve a little more research.