Cape Girardeau History and Photos

August 11, 2010

Round Barn Mystery

The negative sleeve is marked Round Barn 1966. There are some frames filed with the “Round Barn” shots that look like they might have been taken up around Old Appleton, but that doesn’t mean that these came from there.

Look at the craftsmanship in the curved roof trusses. It looks like the rounded part came off the bigger barn in the background. I don’t know if the building collapsed and was being stripped or if the whole thing was being torn down.

This looks like a new barn

Old barn wood used to be in high demand not so long ago, so I assumed this one was being torn down at first glance. On second glance, though, it’s in too good of shape to be razed. I’m almost positive that it’s a new barn going up.

Good-sized silos

Wherever this farm was, it had some pretty substantial silos. Again, look at the the way those curved pieces are fitted together out of 1-bys (from back in the days when a 1-by really was one inch thick). The white pieces in the foreground look like the side walls were pushed out when the roof came down.

Interior shot

I don’t know if this is the interior of the barn in the background of the first shot or if was another building. These are good-sized barns. I’m sure somebody will be able to identify them.

August 10, 2010May 11, 2021

Jean Bell Mosley, Author

My new film scanner came in a couple of days ago, so I’m chipping away at old negatives again. This sleeve was labeled Jean Bell Mosley and son, 8/3/1967.

This must have been taken shortly after Mrs. Mosley wrote The Crosses at Zarin, the book she’s holding. Her son, Steve, is at her right. I’ve been racking my brain to figure out who the woman is on the far right of the picture. I KNOW I know her, but I can’t put a name to the face.

Book signing with Aileen Lorberg

The Sept. 11, 1967 Missourian carried a photo and story about Mrs. Mosley and Miss Aileen Lorberg signing copies of their books at a tea. Miss Lorberg wrote Otahki: Trail of Tears Princess, which was illustrated by Mrs. Joe Lesem.

You can read the whole story in Google Archives. The story mentions that Mrs. Mosley’s book was dedicated to Thomza Zimmerman of Advance, her longtime friend and writing partner. Thomza was one of my grandmother’s best friends. I spent a lot of time at her house.

Mrs. Mosley was a word artist

For more background, go to Jean Bell Mosley’s website. She was a fascinating character who wrote books, magazine articles and a well-read column in The Missourian from 1955 until shortly before her death July 11, 2003. The website contains links to many of Mrs. Mosley’s columns.

Her last column was on something as mundane as the the different tops worn by her caregivers, but she made me SEE her “little, midsized and larger helpers here at the R&R spread flit in and out of my room as silent as butterflies…”

She paints pictures with words that are more vibrant than what some of us can capture with cameras or brushes.

There’s a link on the site to a video interview Matt Sanders did with Steve and Viney Mosley about Steve’s mother. About a third of the way through, I was surprised to see a frame similar to the one at the top of the page pop up. I guess The Missourian must have held on to more of my photos than I thought.

August 10, 2010September 6, 2016

Fort D in 1966

I’m pretty sure the photo with the tire ran in The Missourian, but a quick Google Archives search for 1966 didn’t pop up the story.

The stories that DID show up that year included one where some out-of-town tourists wondered why Fort D didn’t have any historical markers telling its story.

How long has that thing been missing?

“Darn!” said the City Fathers. “There used to be one up there. Wonder how long it’s been gone?”

The city had a caretaker living in the Fort for awhile, but when he moved out, all of the windows were broken out. (In a story that may or may not have been related, a caretaker was arrested for drunken driving and may have had other housing assigned to him.)

Weeds and trash

Weeds and trash were allowed to grow up around the landmark.

Fort D tourist-worthy in 2008

When Brother Mark and I rode up to Fort D on our bikes in October 2008, the grounds were well-kept and there were plenty of interesting historical markers to make the trip worthwhile.

The building is missing its roof, unfortunately.

I wrote about the history of the Fort on my bike blog. in 2008. Follow the link to read more about the fort and to see more contemporary photos.

I was disappointed to find that this isn’t the original fort. The American Legion bought the site to save it from development in 1936, and the WPA built the building in 1937.

Fort D Photo Gallery

Here are more photos from 1966. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery.

August 8, 2010

Cape Aerial Photos from 1966

These two photos, taken in 1966, show the heart of Cape Girardeau, looking from the southwest to the northeast. Click on them to make them larger. I increased the resolution of the photos so you can see more detail.

Cape Central High School is in the bottom left. Diagonally to the right would be Southeast Hospital. Academic Hall and Houck Stadium are in right center. There’s a white smokestack next to the river on the right side just above the wing strut of the airplane. The shoe factory is in front of it, so that must be the old power plant.

What’s interesting is that Cape quickly becomes farm land once you get behind the university. Cape, when you get right down to it, wasn’t all that big of a town in 1966.

Cape Girardeau floodwall

The plane had flown slightly more to the east in this photo. You can see Cape’s floodwall gleaming in the sun at the right. The white smokestack mentioned above is more prominent, and you can make out the shoe factory smokestack if you look closely (or have a good imagination).

The Mississippi River Bridge barely shows up next to St. Vincent’s Seminary on the far right center.

The trees sticking out on the curve of the Mississippi River north of town would have been Cape Rock.