Eric McGowen Archives

August 1, 2014

Cape Municipal Band Concert

Eric McGowen is a good guy to know. He’s tipped me off to some good stories and gotten me into places folks don’t normally get to go.

Eric sent this email a few days ago: I had noticed that you’d attended and done a story on the Jackson Municipal band – tomorrow night is the last Cape Municipal Band concert for the season. Concert starts at 7:30, but if you wanted to come take pictures of the inside of the band shell before hand I’m sure I could get something worked out for you.

[Editor’s Note: above is Ron Nall, who started playing with the band in 1967 and became the conductor in 1992.]

Wall of directors

There would be some great shots – there’s pictures on the wall of every director since the inception of the band – 100+ years worth. (and Trombonist Dr. Dan Cotner has played for 75 of those). This is my 20th year playing saxophone with the Cape Muny Band – it’s a great collection of College and High School music teachers, high school and college music students, and schmucks like me who still enjoy the heck out of playing. Just an idea.

Dr. Cotner’s 75th year with band

This marked Dr. Dan Cotner’s 75th year with the band, breaking a record set by Homer Gilbert, who played 74 years. Jerry Ford was recognized for 57 years of service.

Stories about the band

Not only did Eric provide the tip and the access, but he also sent me several links to Missourian stories ABOUT the band. I’ll post those links to give me more time to process a larger photo gallery in order to show more band members and the audience.

Guest conductors

“Children of all ages” were invited down to the front and given “batons” so they could play conductor. Narrator Tim Gould told the audience that the word “baton” is pronounced differently in different regions. “In Jackson, they just call them ‘sticks,'” he joked. (I THINK it was a joke.)

It was hard to tell whether some of the boys were conducting the orchestra or sword fighting, but the music still sounded good.

Star Spangled Banner

It was touching to watch the audience stand with hands over hearts and sing the Star Spangled Banner.

Band concert photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move through the gallery. (Because the gallery is so large, it may load slower than usual. Restart it if it seems to hang up.)

January 4, 2013

Cape County Courthouse

I posted photos and a video of the clock in the Jackson Courthouse this summer, but forgot that I was holding another stack of other photos. Thanks to IT director Eric McGowen and public works director Don McQuay for taking the time to let me poke around in the recesses of the Cape County Courthouse. It was one hot day when these pictures were taken, but I’d rather have done them in the summer than when the windchill was in the teens.

Earlier stories about the Courthouse

Courthouse photo gallery

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

August 14, 2012May 26, 2023

Jackson Courthouse Clock

One of the coolest things Friend Shari and I got to see – and hear – when we were given courthouse tours by IT director Eric McGowen and public works director Don McQuay was the clock that lives in the dome of the Jackson Courthouse.

The outside view is pretty neat (even though a Dec. 17, 1934, Missourian story said that the workmen had to remove the dial on the south side of the courthouse to repaint the numerals because they had faded to the point where they were unreadable).

Tick Tock Tick Tock

The sound of the ancient mechanism ticking away is relaxing. Here’s a short video that shows what it looks and sounds like.

Concessions to modern times

There have been two changes in modern times. The clock was originally wound by hand. Now it’s done by an electric motor. At one time, the clock struck the time on a huge bell in the tower. The huge tolling hammer is still there (you’ll see if when I do the next story on the courthouse), and there’s a cable running up to the clock, but it looked disconnected.

Earlier stories about the Courthouse

Photo gallery of courthouse clock

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

July 25, 2012March 21, 2021

Common Pleas from Dome to Dungeon

Eric McGowen and Don McQuay led Friend Shari and me on a tour of the Common Pleas Courthouse. Like everyone else, we had heard the stories of the dungeon in the basement and the secret tunnels leading to the river. So, let’s get to the bottom of this, if you’ll pardon the pun.

The basement is semi-finished in one area and used for record storage, phone and networks equipment, Christmas decorations, miscellaneous junk and three framed aerial photographs, one of which was of Pfisters and Central High School in the early 1950s.

“Dungeon” has dirt floor

I’m still trying to figure out this room, which is located north of the storage room. It contains a heavy steel door and an iron lattice opening that must have been for ventilation.The dirt floor is just as it was during the Civil War.

Which side is the lockup?

The passageway through the door doesn’t lead anywhere today.

The locking mechanism had to be on the “outside”, making this room the secured area. The only problem is, we couldn’t figure out how you would get to it unless it once opened to the outside.

Forget about the tunnels

Let’s get rid of the tunnel theory first off: The Common Pleas Courthouse is located on one of the tallest hills in Cape. If you tunneled out from the basement, you’d come out in thin air. Digging straight down would take more work than anyone would have undertaken.

An excellent resource for history buffs interested in the courthouse is the National Register of Historic Places registration form. It’s an interesting read, but it doesn’t mention tunnels. (It’s a large file, so it might take awhile to download.)

Rebel guerrilla lynched

It does have the background of a grave marker I spotted at the Bloomfield’s Stoddard County Confederate Memorial.:

“An infamous case centering on the Court of Common Pleas occurred in February of 1864 when a notorious guerilla, John Fugate Bolin, was captured by Union forces near Bloomfield, Missouri. He was brought back to Cape Girardeau and according to local tradition was kept in the basement of the courthouse. Army telegraph messages back and forth to St. Louis discuss whether to hold Bolin for trial or to just kill him outright. General Clinton Fisk in St. Louis advised Colonel J. B. Rogers, the regimental commander stationed in Cape Girardeau, to hold him for trial. However, on the night of February 5^th a large crowd of citizens and soldiers took Bolin from the courthouse, placed him on a wagon, rode him to a tollgate on the Bloomfield Road south of Cape Girardeau and hung him. Fisk afterwards commented that it would “hardly be necessary” to give Bolin a trial. Suggesting Fisk’s reply might be seen as “winking” at the illicit act and to allow him to “better be able to restrain my men” in the future, Rogers requested, and received, a reprimand for allowing mob rule to govern the day. This is one of the few situations in Missouri where the impromptu execution of a guerilla leader was discussed in official correspondence.”

Stairway gets narrow, twisty

The stairway to the dome felt solid, but it got narrower and more twisty the higher I walked. This is the level where I shot photos of the courthouse grounds and surrounding neighborhood.

I’m glad I hadn’t read up on bird droppings and histoplasmosis when I made this journey.

County seeking grant

The Missourian had a story July 24, 2012, reporting that the county commission will seek a historic preservation grant from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to support repairs to the building. I don’t know if the money will go for replacing charred timbers in the dome.