When Men Wore Hats

1934 Girardot Page 125I’ve worn baseball caps, cowboy hats, firefighter helmets, bike helmets and riot helmets, but I never had a traditional hat like this dandy in the 1934 Girardot is sporting.

My first thought in seeing the ad for Bohnsack’s – “A Clothing Store for Men and Boys” – was that the man with the hat and mustache was Clark Gable. It might have been Gable, but he didn’t REALLY become famous until Gone with the Wind, which hit the screen in 1939, long after the yearbook was published.

Bohnsack’s had become Sherman Ladies Fashions by 1968, and that address was listed as William Brothers’ Curtis Mathis TV, Linens and Gifts in the 1979 City Directory.

Other businesses on the page

  • Lueders Studio survived well into the 1990s, based on family photos we had taken there.
  • Suedekum & Sons has returned to its original roots as Meyer Supply company, but it’s still in the same place and it’s been serving the community for more than a century.
  • Finney’s Drug Store was still listed in the 1979 City Directory, but Google’s Street View shows it as an empty storefront today.

 

 

1956 Cape Girardeau Moo Juice

Cape Girardeans had quite a few choices of local milk products in 1956.

Here’s a full-page ad for Sunny Hill in the 1956 Sesquicentennial book. Do you remember the plastic “Twin Pak” handles? Were they green?

Schonhoff Dairy Farms

Schonhoff Dairy Farms wanted to know if you were concerned about getting the best milk possible for your family. They’d deliver it “fresh” to your door. I always wonder why people use quote marks for emphasis.

Keeping Pace with Cape Girardeau

The Midwest Dairy Products Division of City Products Corporation has been bringing you quality dairy products for more than 25 years, they bragged.

Pevely

I remember Pevely more for ice cream than milk.

Sugar Creek Creamery

I don’t remember them, but they must have the “Cape Girardeau Manufactured Best Cream Butter” because it’s in quotes. Suedekum Electronic Supply Company has a pretty fancy type font for their logo.