Car Wrecks Archives

December 28, 2014April 14, 2021

Rerun: Shoe Factory to Casino

I asked the folks in the Growing Up in Cape Girardeau Facebook fanpage what they’d like me to repost. There were lots of requests for stuff either before or after my time – it’s hard to believe that my photo window in Cape was only from about 1963 through 1967. Several people asked for shoe factory photos. Unfortunately, I never was inside the building. The best I can do is a collection of ground and aerial photos documenting the transition of the biggest business in Cape to a casino.

This aerial photo was taken in the early 1970s. It ran in one of the most extensive posts I did dealing with the history of the shoe factory. If you follow only one link, it should be this one. By the way, you can click on the photos to make them larger, but following the links will take you to more pictures and the backstories.

Reporters love stats

Reporters love stories with lots of statistics, and a 1925 Missourian story was full of them: the factory produced 3,164,080 pairs of shoes, enough to provide every resident of Cape with 175 pairs.

There was a human side, too. The company bragged that “no death or accident of serious consequence has been recorded…”

I’m not sure if the shoe company would qualify this as an injury of “serious consequence, but I’m sure Mrs. McCrite would:

June 24, 1926 – The condition of Mrs. Octavia McCrite, who is in the Cape Girardeau hospital following the loss of her scalp in an accident at the factory of the International Shoe Co. Saturday, was today reported to be unchanged.

If you read the comments, Mrs. McCrite was the grandmother of one of my readers. It sounds like it must have been an horrific injury with lifelong consequences.

A view from the tracks

Here’s a view of the shoe factory from the Red Star side of the floodwall. The river was coming up, but never got high enough to have to close the floodgate. [If you are short on time, this is a link you can skip. The picture is pretty much the story.]

Shoe factory neighborhood

Here’s a wreck on Main Street at the shoe factory. The piece has pictures of buildings in the neighborhood, including one that became various things: Fairway Market No. 2, Margarite Mama’s and the Mule Lip.

Aerial photos of Red Star and Casino area

I shot a series of aerial photos of the old shoe factory site and surrounding area just as clearing was beginning. This one showed Red Star looking to the south.

Morrison Ice and Fuel

A nondescript brick building south of the old shoe factory had been Morrison Ice and Fuel. It had the corner on the ice market in the early 1900s. It eventually became the Pure Ice Company.

When refrigerators first started coming out, Pure Ice sold Coolerator Iceboxes, but marketed them as a replacement for the old-fashioned wooden iceboxes (with a $5 trade-in), not as a refrigerator like we think of it today. Home ice delivery went on in Cape until the 1960s. That’s why a lot of people still call the fridge an “icebox.”

2011 and 2012 casino panoramas

I took panoramic photos of the casino to compare the changes between 2011, when it was mostly just a slab, and a year later.

Casino at night in 2012

After the casino opened, I took some night time exposures of it.

Downtown parking vs casino parking

Aerials showing the number of cars downtown and at the casino.

Bingo is still thriving

In 2010, Bingo folks were concerned that the casino would cut into their business. It doesn’t look like their parking lot is empty.

Hirsch’s Northtown

My post on the building across from the shoe factory that eventually became The Mule Lip was short, but it drew lots of comments from people who went there in its various permutations.

December 30, 2013December 30, 2013

Johns Junk Yard

I was rooting through a bunch of car wreck pictures to see if any of them had interesting backgrounds. This was shot on South Kingshighway just north of the I-55 intersection. Across the street from the wreck is Johns Metal Iron and Salvage, but we always called it Johns Junk Yard. It doesn’t look like the crash was too bad.

The 1969 City directory lists it as “Johns Auto Parts (Cleo E. Johns) Junk US Hwy 61.

That’s my 1959 Buick LaSabre station wagon parked in the median. I’m sticking pretty far out into the road. Maybe I hadn’t learned yet the best and safest way to park at a spot news scene. It might have been that I was southbound in the left lane, noticed the wreck after I was right on it or past it, and then tucked in as quickly as I could.

John’s ad

Johns took a quarter-page ad in the 1956 Sesquicentennial book.

A May 15, 2004, Missourian story headlined “A look back at local business – 1997” reported “After 70 years in business, Johns Metal-Iron and Salvage Co., 1110 S. Kingshighway, closed its doors.”

What I can’t figure out from the headline is did the business close in 2004, when the story was written, or in 1997? There was a lot of business activity reported in the area.

June 3, 2013May 4, 2021

Pizza King Corner Crash

For a second I thought this was the same crash at Pacific and Broadway I had already covered, but it was definitely a different one. One of the things I found interesting was that it captured the Pizza King, which was once the Last Chance – First Chance Saloon.

Vandeven Mercantile is on the left.

View east on Broadway

Vandeven’s is on the right. You can see The Esquire, Wayne’s Grill, Radonics, Bodines and other lighted signs. This picture must have been taken later than the one below because the sign above proclaims “We’ve Gone Gulf.”

The old trolley tracks are visible in the middle of the street.

Station had been Cities Service

The station on the northeast corner of the intersection had been a Cities Service. Looks like the Bourbon billboard had been allowed to go blank in the later photo.

Howard’s on right

The old Howard’s Athletic Goods was on the right. Howard’s moved into the Vandeven building in 2009, then SEMO tore down the old (ugly) landmark building for a parking lot.

View to the north

Howard’s is on the left and the Gulf station is on the right. It’s warm enough that people are wearing light jackets, but I see the car on the left is still running snow tires. The banner mentions American Education Week, which is traditionally held in November, so it might be a warm, but rainy winter night. Those random white spots are caused by raindrops reflecting the camera’s flash.

Looks pretty minor (if it’s not YOUR car)

I’m going to guess the guys in the background are involved in the crash in some way. They have The Look on their faces.

I’m guessing the wreck was minor enough that nobody was hurt. The best indication of that is that the windshields don’t have any head dents.

May 17, 2013

Plastic Statues and Seatbelts

When I spotted this carload of kids shot back in Ohio in 1969, I thought back on more innocent days when we counted on plastic statues on the dashboard to keep our precious cargo safe. The only restraint system most kids encountered was Mom’s arm hastily flung out in front of them.

Padded dashboards

These icons would have a tough time sticking to today’s padded dashboards that replaced nose-bending metal ones.

You can say what you want to about how “they don’t build them like they used to,” but that’s a good thing. My 2000 Odyssey van just turned over 170K miles. I used to have to trade cars about every two years when they had less than a third that much mileage. It’s true that cars suffer damage at lower speeds than they used to, but that’s because they are designed with “crumple zones” that eat up the energy of a crash rather than transmitting it to the vehicle’s occupants like the old solid-frame cars.

Seatbelts in the Buick LaSabre

My folks figured I needed more than plastic statues, particularly after I hit a bridge before I had driven 150 yards during Ernie Chiles’ attempt to teach me how to navigate the highways. They equipped the family’s 1959 Buick LaSabre station wagon with some of the first after-market seatbelts to hit the market. My car and I were covering the Buck Nelson Flying Saucer Convention in Mountain View in this photo. You’ll read more about that later.

There was nothing automatic about those first belts. In fact, I’m not even sure they had quick-release buckles; you might have had to thread the belt through the buckle every time. I don’t remember if the wide front seat had two sets of belts or three. If it was the former, that was probably Mother’s idea of safety – it kept my date on the far side of the car.

I give Dad credit: he put them in the car for me, but he wore them religiously, if only to set a good example. Working hundreds of wrecks made me a seatbelt fanatic. When I encountered a passenger who didn’t want to buckle up, I’d give them a choice: buckle up or walk. Here’s a site that gives a good explanation of why seatbelts save lives and how they work. They’ve come a long way since my fabric belt bolted to the floor.

Tag: Car Wrecks