Aerial photos Archives

June 13, 2012

Ross’s Leaves Downtown Jackson

Longtime downtown Jackson business Ross Furniture is moving to East Jackson Blvd. from South High Street, a story in The Missourian reported June 12, 2012. The store had been at that location since 1979. As Cape’s business center has shifted west, I guess it’s only logical that Jackson’s would move east. The furniture store had one of the two bay windows that existed in the Courthouse Square area. It must have been exciting to look up and down the street and toward the courthouse Back in The Day.

Looking north toward Courthouse

Late afternoon isn’t the best time in of the day to shoot a north-south street. I was limited to shooting the businesses on the east side of the street because of dark shadows.

Even though I worked at The Jackson Pioneer, I have very few memories of Jackson’s main drag. I covered lots of governmental meetings and school activities, but there must not have been much happening in the business district.

Well, I have vague memories of a bit of a stir when one of The Pioneer’s editors developed a strange obsession with a local high school girl a third his age. When the girl’s father, one of our largest (and, to be honest, few) advertisers refused to let them date, the editor picketed the father’s place of business. I’m not sure even that was enough to get you fired at The Pioneer, but he didn’t last long. One of these days I’ll get around to writing about the collection of misfits we had working there.

Photo gallery of South High Street businesses

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.

May 23, 2012December 29, 2015

Allenville Railroad Bridge

The Missourian carried a story May 22, 2012, that a Jackson, Gordonville and Delta Railroad plan to abandon a 13-mile section of unused tracks has some Allenville residents worried. They’re not concerned about losing the railroad – it hasn’t carried traffic between Gordonville and Delta since 1997. They’re worried about the railroad bridge and trestle over the Diversion Channel. (Click on any photo to make it larger.)

Tiny town cut off by floods

The story by Shay Alderman quoted lifelong Allenville resident Phil Thompson as saying the town has been hit by 12 floods since 1973. Roads were impassable for about six weeks during flooding in 1993 and 1995. The trestle and bridge were the town’s supply lifeline.

Will bridge end up on scrap heap?

Robert L. Adams, railroad president said the bridge is in such poor condition that he would advise against anyone walking or driving a vehicle across it. I can understand why he’d say that for liability reasons.

I’ll have to take a meander down that way when I go home. At least I’ll know I won’t have to dodge any highballin’ freights in the middle of the channel.

May 2, 2012October 19, 2016

Broadway and Sprigg

Missourian Librarian Sharon Sanders runs an interesting blog on Thursdays called “From the Morgue.” Back in the less PC Good Old Days, that what we called the repository of yellowing clips carefully snipped out by the custodian of the newspaper’s history. Folks like Sharon and her predecessor, Judy Crow, really DO know where the bodies are buried and can find the skeletons in closets going back generations. You do NOT want to get on the wrong side of the newspaper librarian. They used to possess both sharp tongues and sharp scissors.

I’m not sure what Digital Sharon could do to a reporter who didn’t bring back a much-handled envelope of old clips, but I bet it wouldn’t be pretty. On one of our first meetings, I started to raise my camera to take her picture. I don’t normally take no for an answer – I’ve shot Popes and Presidents, rioters and guys with guns – but I put my camera down when she shook her head. I knew right away that she wasn’t somebody to mess with.

I felt fortunate to escape with my life and a photo of a stack of aging clips.

Broadway and Sprigg

Her blog Thursday said one of her most-requested photos is of the building that used to be at the northeast corner of Broadway and Sprigg Street. It’s a vacant lot next to the Last Call Bar today. She’s done all the historical heavy lifting about that block, so it’s worth heading over there.

I don’t have any photos going back that far, but I do have the area today.

This aerial from November 2010 shows a number of landmarks. The red building is the Last Call she mentions. The white building diagonally across the street is the infamous 633 – 635 – 637 Broadway trio of buildings that have been a source of controversy for a long time. One building was razed and the other two are being renovated. In the center of the picture is Trinity Lutheran Church. The brick building to its left is Shivelbines Music and the white building across the street is Annie Laurie’s Antiques.

Last Call

It’s hard to miss the Last Call if you’re eastbound on Broadway. Its red colors are set off by a blue sky.

Blue-sided building is gone

The blue-sided building with the iconic mural at the top center of the aerial and the ones next to it were torn down at the end of 2011. Walther’s Furniture, across the street, has turned into Discovery Playhouse.

Like a gap in a first-grader’s grin

The northwest corner of Broadway and Sprigg has another empty spot. That’s where the old Chris Cross Cafe used to be. This view is south on Sprigg toward Broadway somewhere around 1966 or 1967. The three-story building on the south side of Broadway was the Cape Hotel. It burned and the spot is occupied by a Subway today.

April 15, 2012April 16, 2012

St. Mary’s Safety Patrol

It took a minute to figure out which school safety patrol these boys belonged to. The gas station and houses looked a little familiar, but it didn’t have the feel of Broadway about it. I like that you can see the driver in the car on the left and that the girl’s right shoestring is flapping.

St. Mary’s Mass schedule

The frame with the St. Mary’s Cathedral school in the background helped nail it down. It was the corner of Sprigg and William that I’ve written about before.

Sherer’s Mobil Service Station

The sign above the door says S.H. “Bud” Sherer Dealer. (It might be “Bub.” It’s hard to tell at the angle).

Station and houses are gone

This April 17, 2011, aerial shows that the station and the houses on the corner are all gone.

Photo gallery of St. Mary’s School Safety Patrol

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery. Here was Trinity Lutheran School’s Safety Patrol, including a video.