View from Trinity Bell Tower

Just before it was torn down, Brother Mark and I crawled all over the Trinity Lutheran Church documenting it. I posted photos of the bell earlier. Today we’re focusing on the view FROM the bell tower. Those louvered windows had a fairly big space to look through, even if the mesh screening was a bit distracting with some lens choices. Click on the photos to make them larger.

View to the northeast

The building towering over everything else is the KFVS-TV building. To its left you can see the H & H Building and the Marquette Hotel. The bright white object rising above the trees at the top right is the Common Pleas Courthouse. You can barely make out the Walther’s sign on the left side of the frame. It has become the Discovery Playhouse. Across the street was a the building that would later sport a bright blue mural with the words, “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.” That building was torn down last winter.

View to the north

Switching to a slightly longer lens let me throw the screening out of focus (mostly), but it didn’t cover as much area. The white building to the right was Brinkopf-Howell Funeral home, now Annie Laurie’s Antiques. Shivelbine’s Music would be the building on the southeast corner of Broadway and Frederick. Star Service Station was on the northwest corner. I’d sure like some of that 36-cent gas today.

View to the west

The tall structure at the top right is the telephone company’s microwave tower. In the days before fiber optic cable, much of the country’s long distance traffic was handled by radio signals beamed from tower to tower. Southeast Missouri State University’s Academic Hall’s dome barely clears the treetops near the top right.

View to the south

This is looking south from the intersection of Themis and Frederick. The small brick building on the southwest corner was known as “The Mouse House.” Cape-Kil is directly south of it.

 Trinity Lutheran Church neighborhood in 2011

Here is an aerial photo I shot of the neighborhood April 17, 2011.

 

DRAW!!! Boy Slaps Leather

Reader Steven McKeown sent me an email the other day, “Ken, I have some old pics of Cape … tornado damage; home coming parade pics, etc. … are you interested in them? They are all digitized…”

To be honest, I normally turn down photos from other folks because I still have a gazillion of my own to go through, but he said the magic words, “They are all digitized.” That might mean that all I’d have to do is to do some minor touchups and size them for posting.

When the 300-plus images taken by his dad, James D. McKeown III, showed up, I was blown away by some of the the images. These two shots of a boy in his backyard drawing down on the photographer are iconic. I wish my name was under them.

Another one bites the dust

Here’s what Steven could tell me about the photo:

Location is our back yard on 1736 Independence (house is still there, right next to the parking lot) … picture is facing north towards Whitner. The houses in the backgroud are on Whitner. I’m not sure who the boy is, but very possibly one of my best gradeschool friends, Brad McKee, who lived down on the corner of Whitner and Caruthers. I have long since forgotten who lived right behind us. Bobby Drace (sp?) lived up the street. We used to race the coaster carts down Whitner (and try to get them stopped before going out into traffic on Caruthers … or have spotters and we would coast all the way to the High School parking lot.

The little boys I shot a generation later were better armed.

Tiger Business Managers

This photo of Tiger business managers ran in the 1965 Girardot. They are, from left to right, Steve Crowe, Al Spradling III., and Lee Dahringer. I mentioned them back when I was looking for someone to help me sell ads for this blog.

Mr. Wilferth caught us

I don’t know the exact circumstances of this photo. The guys are wearing the same clothes, so I suspect that we thought to ourselves, “Well, that didn’t take too long to shoot. We’re excused from class, so let’s jet out of here for the rest of the period.”(I apologize for the quality of the negative. Years of improper storage has not been kind to it.)

That’s probably when we ran into principal Fred Wilferth. He could have busted us, but his style was to clown around, standing on his tiptoes to show the disparity between his height and Al’s. Sort of, “I’ve got my eyes on you boys, but nothing’s going to come of it if you head on to your next class.”

Wayne Goddard, assistant principal, played “bad cop” to Mr. Wilferth’s “good cop.” Even though Mr. Goddard was the school’s disciplinarian, I never heard anyone speak ill of him.

Stories about Al, Steve and Lee

I had forgotten how many stories mentioned these guys

Central vs Perryville Homecoming


This shot of Charlie Duncan and Fanny Clemmons walking off the field after Central bested Perryville 20-6 in the homecoming game was published in the 1965 Girardot.

Duncan was a superb athlete and one of the nicest guys at Central. The Girardot Senior Directory lists his activities as “President, Treasurer of Homeroom; Varsity Club; Football; Track; All-State Honorable Mention, All Conference First Team.”

Fanny was in the Sports Club and was Secretary, Treasurer of the Volleyball Club.

“Glory Comes Late in Season”

The Girardot said “The highlight of this year’s season came in a triumphant victory over the Perryville Pirates, 20 – 6. This being the homecoming and final game, the Tigers would settle for nothing less than victory. Executing brilliant plays and coordinated teamwork, Central took and early lead. The second half showed as much determination as the first, as the Tigers maintained a definite advantage and ended the Pirates’ winning streak.”

Cape Beat Jackson 19 – 0

I remember Jackson as being Cape’s biggest rival in our generation. The Girardot reported on the season’s fourth game: “The rivalry between Cape and Jackson surged to a climax as Central downed the Indians, 19 – 0.”

There were several players with numbers beginning with 5 in the yearbook team photo. Since I can’t read the whole number, it could be Mike Gray (52), Wayne Roeder (50) or Leslie Carlton (56). I know it’s not Bill Jackson (54), and I’m pretty sure it’s not Mike Gray. The girl on the left looks like she might have been one of the Dunklin girls, but I’ll let somebody else confirm it.

CHS lost squeaker to Sikeston

The Sikeston – Cape Central game I covered in 2010 was a blowout, with Sikeston scoring in the first minute and winning 21 – zip. The 1965 Girardot said “One of the most thrilling games was the Tigers’ encounter with the Sikeston Bulldogs. The last 52 seconds proved to be the deciding point when the Bulldogs scored a touchdown, ending the game in a close 20 -19 defeat for the Tigers.

I’m pretty sure # 84 was Jerry O’Connell.

1964 Varsity Scores

The Girardot: “Highlights of Central’s 1964 football season included both disappointments and triumphs.”

  • CHS vs Blytheville: 6 – 12
  • CHS vs University City: 7 – 14
  • CHS vs Paducah Tilghman:  6 – 6
  • CHS vs Jackson: 19 – 0
  • CHS vs Poplar Bluff: 0 – 14
  • CHS vs Sikeston: 19 – 20
  • CHS vs Chaffee: 34 – 13
  • CHS vs Charleston: 0 -14
  • CHS vs Perryville: 20 – 6

The yearbook’s team photo has some of the numbers obscured, but I’m going to guess that #28 was Mike Friese. Girlfriends, unfortunately, didn’t wear numbers, so I’m not sure who the girl was. Ron Riley was wearing #73 in the yearbook.