Cape Girardeau History and Photos

October 30, 2015

118 North Ellis Street

I didn’t find any stories that told when the house at 118 North Ellis Street was built, but there were plenty of stories and briefs about the people who have lived there over the years. From the pages of The Southeast Missourian:

April 30, 1924 – For Rent – 5 rooms, modern, 118 North Ellis.
[In the same paper was an ad that read “To the Colored People: The Marquette Cement Plant Boarding House under new management. Colored employees seeking a refined boarding house will find this a good home, as there will positively be no lawlessness tolerated. Just as the plant has been improved, so has this boarding house. Board, room, short orders, sandwiches, soft drinks and ice cream served. Don (Blue) Hubbard Manager]
August 4, 1925 – Mrs. Pattie Sexton of Malden motored to Cape Girardeau Sunday to spend a few days here as the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Emory.
June 8, 1933 – Seven Negro children, whose plight was reported last week when they were living in a darkened room at the Kimmel barn on North Spanish street north of Broadway, are now housed with their parents in more comfortable quarters. They are living in a small house owned by Mrs. Minnie Meystedt, 118 North Ellis street, in the rear on the 500 block on North Sprigg street. They have been permitted to live there until something permanent can be done about their situation. The family was driven from the barn last Friday when Allan Kimmel, owner of the barn, tore away the doors and windows to the room.
July 15, 1935 – Mrs. Howard Templeton, a surgical patient, was discharged from Southeast Missouri Hospital.
June 9, 1936 – Mrs. Jewell Miller and Harvey Meystedt were re-married by Rev. Wm. H. Hackman at the Grace Methodist parsonage, 17 South Sprigg street, in a single ring ceremony Saturday night. Mrs. Meystedt is a daughter of Mrs. Mary Davidson of Fornfelt. He is the son of Mrs. Minnie Meystedt, 118 North Ellis street, and his occupation is that of plumber.
June 26, 1948 – In the presence of relatives, Miss Betty La Don Davis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Burette O. Davis, 626 South Benton street, became the bride of Bill F. Jackson, 118 North Ellis street, this morning. He is employed at the Marquette Cement plant, and she by the F.W. Woolworth Co.
October 1, 1949 – A building permit was issued to W.H. Meystedt for a 3-car concrete garage, asphalt shingle roof. Cost was $700 and the size was 18 by 20 feet.
January 10, 1950 – Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Cook, who with their son, Bobby, will move this week to West Frankfort, Ill. Mr. Cook is territorial manager in southern Illinois for the B.F. Goodrich Tire Co. Bobby has been attending St. Mary’s School where he is in the seventh grade.
May 17, 1969 – Delmar W. Karger, son of Mrs. Ernest Karger, has been named a Ford Foundation professor of management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N.Y.

The Ray Tibbles Family

The Ray Tibbles family garnered lots of ink in The Missourian.

March 3, 1953 – Mrs. Wayne Tibbles and daughter were dismissed Monday from St. Francis Hospital. The child was born February 25.
October 19, 1953 – Gail Patricia Tibbles celebrated her fifth birthday with her a party at her home Saturday afternoon. Guests included Diane Hunze, Sandy and Johnny Headricks, Amanda Ashby, Martha and Timmy Blattner, Judy Schlimme, Chuckie Dockins, Diane Meystedt, Jo Etta Lewis and Judy Hengst.
May 20, 1954 – Ray Tibbles went to Salem, O. for a training session at the Deming pump manufacturer. He is a salesman for the N.O. Nelson Co.
July 25, 1960 – Leaving Sunday for 12 days at Girl Scout Camp Latonka at Lake Wappapello were Gail Patricia Tibbles and Mary Karen Lail, 806 Themis, members of Troop 1
June 18, 1964 – Miss Gail Tibbles, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Tibbles, and Miss Linda Schumacher, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Schumacher, 1613 Kurre lane, will leave on Sunday for Camp Bear Creek on Kentucky Lake, near Benton, Ky.
May 18, 1968 – Bethany Baptist Church was the setting last Saturday for the afternoon wedding of Miss Gail Patricia Tibbles and Michael Adam Smith.

October 28, 2015

A Model Hobby

Dad and I spent many a winter evening building plastic models of ships and planes. Well, to be more accurate, I sat at the table WATCHING Dad build plastic models of ships and planes.

He was a follow-the-directions kind of guy, so he would get frustrated when I skipped around and ended up having to take apart stuff that I had assembled out of order. Before long I would be relegated to applying decals and sorting parts.

One of our largest projects – at least in size – was The U.S.S. United States. It wasn’t the most complicated, but it lit up and it was about two feet long.

A memorial to my Grandfather

Here’s something about the model I never told anyone: when my grandfather, Roy Welch, died when I was 10, I wiped all the dust off the deck and vowed that I would only dust half of it in the future as a way of remembering the passage of time since I had lost him.

When I took it down from the attic to put in a box of stuff going to Annie Laurie’s Antiques, I looked for the dust demarcation, but 30 or 40 years had made it ALL dusty.

Despite that, I still remember my Roi Tan cigar-chomping grandfather. I guess I really didn’t need the U.S.S. United States to do that.

October 28, 2015

Fish On My Windshield

It was time to run some errands this afternoon. My first stop was to turn around and put on a long-sleeve shirt and to ditch the sandals for socks and shoes. It was one of my first tastes of what I remember Missouri winters to be like. It wasn’t all that cold, but it was gray, drizzling with just a tiny dose of ugly mixed in.

I turned the ignition key, decided I didn’t need to activate the seat warmers yet, flipped the switch to clear the rain off the rear window, then reached for the front wiper to flick off rain droplets and a plethora of leaves.

That’s when it suddenly felt like I was INSIDE an aquarium looking at fish swimming through a field of bubbles.

We don’t see this in Florida

I apologize for the recent flood of fall foliage photos, but we don’t get colors like this in South Florida. The only way we can tell the seasons are changing is by watching the color of the tourist license tags.

It won’t take too many depressing gray days before I start digging through my files for pictures of sun, beaches and palm trees, so be patient.

October 27, 2015

Gravel Hill Methodist Church

A search for fall colors took me past a neat, well-kept white frame church at the corner of Highway 34 and Route U near the Cape – Bollinger county line close to Crump.There was nothing really spectacular about it, but my rule of thumb is that if it catches my attention, then it deserves at least a couple frames. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

There was a fairly modern sign post out front that proclaimed it was New McKendree at Lake Girardeau. There was space below the name for a message, but it was left empty.

Renee Gordon

I was just about to pull out of the parking lot when a woman walked by. I gave her a wave, which she returned. When she unlocked the door, I asked if I could take a look inside.

It turned out the woman was Renee Gordon, who was hoping to close on the building this week. She plans to turn it into an art studio, gallery and school of the arts.

The church has changed names several times over the years, having been known as the Gravel Hill Methodist Church for a long time. She thought the building might be as much as 125 years old, but I found a 1997 Missourian story about Cape county churches that said the fieldstone foundation made it look like it might have been built in the 1930s. In 1997, the church still had an outhouse. It has a modern kitchen and bathrooms today.

Great space for a studio

I expected to see a dimly-lit, rundown auditorium with rows of dark pews lining the room, but Renee said what you see is essentially what the church left – open space with nice lighting and beautiful floors. It also still has the bell in the tower, and a rope hangs down in the lobby / kitchen area if you are moved to ring it (I didn’t want to ask).

A scan of the Missourian’s archive turned up lots of funeral services, potluck dinners, homecoming affairs and other typical happenings of a small rural church.

One story DID catch my eye: in 1927 a man (I don’t think it’s necessary to name him after all these years) was given a fine of $20 and 15 days in jail for disturbing religious worship at the Gravel Hill Methodist church, “but he was paroled as to the jail sentence pending good behavior.”