Cape Girardeau History and Photos

August 17, 2015

Liberty Bell of the West

Bill Nowell of Nowell’s Camera shop invited Girlfriend Lila and me to go on a ramble to Ste. Genevieve one weekend in 1966 or 1967. On the way, we stopped to see the Liberty Bell of the West. Back in those days, you could walk right up to it and give it a ring or two. Today, you have to push a button that causes a door to open, and you have to look through bars.

The bell was given by King Louis XV of France to the Catholic Church of the Illinois Country in 1741. The people of Kaskaskia rang it in celebration after American General George Rogers Clark occupied the town on July 4, 1778.

Photo gallery of the Liberty Bell in 2012

I haven’t run across the negatives from the Nowell trip, but here are some photos from 2012. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move through the gallery.

Kaskaskia Bell State Memorial 11-09-2012

August 16, 2015

Smelterville Snapping Turtle

Right after the flood waters went down last month, I made one of my periodic sweeps through what is left of Smelterville.

The only sign of life was this snapping turtle the size of a small washtub making his way across La Cruz street near the railroad tracks.

Now, I’ve been known to help your basic box turtle cross the road, but this guy could snap a broomstick if he set his mind to it. I figured he could make it across without my assistance.

If you like big turtles, you can click on the photo to make him larger (at your own risk. You have been warned).

August 15, 2015

MV Mississippi at Dusk

The U.S. Corps of Engineers Motor Vessel Mississippi was docked at the Cape Girardeau riverfront August 14 and 15. I thought it might be neater to see it at dusk than daylight, so I went Friday night.

It was a perfect night, with the temps in the middle 70s for a change. Throngs of people crawled all over the boat, billed as the largest diesel towboat built in the United States. To save myself a bunch of typing, I’ll just give you a link to The MV Mississippi’s website.

Earlier stories about river craft

MV Mississippi photo gallery

Enough about old stuff. Here’s what I shot of The Mississippi just as the sun was going down. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use the arrows to move around.

August 14, 2015

What Would You Save?

Running across these photos of an abandoned house in St. Mary from around 1966 got me to thinking about something.

For a long time, I carried around a list of stories I’d like to do. Eventually, I came to realize that stories found me, I didn’t go looking for them, so I set the list aside.

Still, the idea that stayed with me the longest was something about the early settlers who headed out west in their wagon trains. When they started out, they carried everything including the kitchen sink. As the trail got steeper and food and water supplies got low, they had to lighten the load by throwing out possessions they thought were least important. What was the last “nonessential” to go out the back, I wondered?

What would you save?

Before I got around to asking strangers to let me to photograph them with the three things they would save from their home if it caught fire, I decided to pose the question to friends and coworkers. Turned out most folks were very predictable: family; pets, then photographs, were what would be carried out.

When it became obvious that most of the photos would look alike, I abandoned the project.

What did they take?

Still, when I look through this open window, I have to wonder what did the owners take from those opened drawers, and why did the random beads, buttons and juice squeezer not make the cut? (As always, you can click on the photos to make them larger.)

So, what would YOU carry out of your burning house? Are you going to be like most folks and say “Family, pets and scrapbooks?”