Cairo Archives

June 8, 2021August 19, 2024

Iconic Post Cards

Several years ago, I searched through my archives for what I thought were iconic images that I could turn into post cards. Most of them were taken in Southeast Missouri, but some Illinois and Ohio images managed to sneak in (even one from Washington, D.C.).

Every card has a description on the back. In the interest of full disclosure, a couple of them ended up with the WRONG description, but that’ll only make them more valuable to collectors, like the 1918 “Inverted Jenny” postage stamp that was printed with an airplane upside down.

The post cards are available at

Pastimes Antiques, 45 Main Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63701; Phone 573-332-8882. They are two dollars each or three for $5 in person. They are able to take credit card phone orders and mail as many as will fit in an envelope for an additional $5 for shipping and handling.

If anyone is interested in larger prints of any of the photos, send me an email and we can work out the details.

Smelterville: ‘A Community of Love’

My Smelterville book is available from three local places.

Annie Laurie’s Antique Store, 536 Broadway Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63701; Phone 573-339-1301, $25 in person.

Pastimes Antiques, 45 Main Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63701; Phone 573-332-8882. $25 in person. They are able to take credit card phone orders and mail them for $35, which includes shipping and handling.Gallery of post cards

I can’t guarantee that all of them are still available, but scroll through the gallery to see what you might like. Clicking on an image will make it larger, then you can use the arrow keys to navigate.

For the record, all of the images are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without express written permission. You are encouraged to share a link to this post, but not individual photos.

November 23, 2014

Tired Fire Trucks

On the way out of Cairo headed to Mound City National Cemetery on Hwy 37, we passed HS Auto Salvage, which had a bunch of fire trucks parked in front of it. They weren’t fighting a fire: they evidently had been scrapped.

There were engines and ladder trucks from Cairo, a truck from Thebes and another from Tamms Volunteer Fire Department. There was nobody around to ask what the story was in August, nor in November when I passed that way again.

I bet there are some fire buffs or Pike fraternities who would love to have these old red workhorses.

Fire truck photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move around. Let me know if you have any idea what’s going on with this equipment.

April 2, 2014

Is Winter Over?

I rolled into Cape Girardeau not long after dark-thirty, got the van unloaded and the computer gear set up.

On the way up, I stopped for a 17-minute nap in the first Kentucky rest area on I-24. When I got out to stretch my legs, I noticed that the trees were blooming and some flowers were popping out. Birds were chirping and some bees were making their rounds. Does that mean I dodged winter?

Kentucky photo gallery

Boaters and fisherfolks were taking advantage of the super weather in the Land Between the Lakes area. All of us who hold our breath going over this bridge will be happy to see this construction projection finished. And, finally, I just had to pull off the road near Wickliffe to capture the sun setting over the Mississippi River bridge near Cairo. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move through the gallery.

December 12, 2013November 1, 2023

More Disappearing Cairo

Cairo is a town of subtraction. I still take visitors there, but there is less and less to show them. It’s gotten so I hardly pull the camera out because there’s nothing but open ground where a vibrant downtown once flourished.

Here’s a view through a floodgate opening at 8th Street in some time around 1967. You can click on the photos to make them larger.

Looks pretty much the same in 2010

Except for being in color, the two photos are pretty much the same. This one was taken October 26, 2010.

2012 fire erases old buildings

A fire started in an adjacent building and quickly spread to these two old warehouse buildings. This was taken November 13, 2012.

Nothing left but pile of bricks

When the fire was over, nothing much was left except a pile of bricks and some columns.

Not even the bricks remain

By July 10, 2013, you would never know the buildings existed.

A line has been added to show the 2011 record 61.7-foot highwater mark on the floodwall. There is a common misconception that the Bird’s Point Levee was blown just to save Cairo. In fact, it reduced pressure on the levees and floodwalls in Brookport, IL, Paducah, KY, Cairo, IL, Hickman KY and Tiptonville, TN. Some have speculated that Olive Branch might not have flooded if the levee had been breached earlier.

The reason Cairo got so much attention was that the Cairo river gauge was the one used to judge when it was time to activate the floodway that had been in place since 1937.

Older Cairo stories

I’ve photographed Cairo since the 1960s. Here are some older stories and photos.