Cape Girardeau History and Photos
News photos that have grown whiskers and have become history
Terry Hopkins‘ dad’s box of General Sign Company signs coughed up this billboard of Rusty, Rueseler’s Chevrolet’s mascot along with the “Rueseler’s are as Wild as the West Rest!” slogan.
A neon version of Rusty graced the top of the dealership on South Kingshighway. Here’s a link to more photos and the story.
It has a bunch of comments from folks who remember buying muscle cars there, and a note from someone who knows what happened to the big sign.
Here’s another General Sign Co. sign from Terry’s Hopkins‘ dad’s box of photos. This one is for Sides-Miller Men’s Store at 625 Broadway. It must have been around Christmas time because of the reindeer decoration behind it.
We’re dipping into Terry Hopkins‘ dad’s General Sign box again. This time I ran across two signs that shared a bunch of elements.
Bill’s Courtesy Cleaners was located at 1107 Broadway, more or less across from Houck Stadium. The cleaners were housed in one of two buildings built by Eddie Erlbacher shortly after World War II. I photographed the school board moving a big safe out of the second floor of the twin building to the east.
The property had an interesting past, detailed in a Fred Lynch blog in April 6, 2010.
The Hirsch’s sign’s has the same arrow and basic shape. I wonder how many other businesses in the area shared those pieces / parts?
I did a post on Hirsch’s Midtown in 2012, and it generated quite a few comments. So many, in fact, I followed up with another story about the Hirsch Bros. No. 2, otherwise known as Hirsch’s Northtown.
It was better known to later generations as the Mule Lip or Margarita Mama’s. It’s a casualty of the Casino, but the Midtown store is still standing.
If you look closely at the bottom right of the Hirsch’s sign, there are some tiny red letters faintly visible. Blowing them up just makes them blurrier. The appear to spell COFERS. I looked at the 1968 City Directory and didn’t see any business in the 200 block of South Sprigg that came close to that.
Ideas?
I usually post the blog at about 2 a.m., and after I’m done I check to see if Fred Lynch has updated his f/8 and Be There blog. I didn’t check it before going to bed, so I was stunned this morning to see his topic was “Cofer’s Men’s Store.”
I emailed him to ask if he had seen my topic and decided to piggyback it (we exchange links, which builds traffic for both of us, and it helps readers fill in the gaps).
His response: “Are you kidding? I’m in bed by 10 pm. You retired folks amaze me with your sleeping habits. Anyway, I am two weeks or more ahead with finished blogs so yes, quite a coincidence.”
Working people can be SO organized. I usually don’t start thinking about the next days’ post until around 9 p.m. the night before.
Sands Motel, which started out as the David Louis Motel was one of the most innovative places of lodging in Cape in its day, as you will see from the ads and news stories from the pages of The Southeast Missourian and the Bulletin Journal. It is now called Budget Inn.
Mrs. Evelyn Bahn sold the motel in 1986 after 33 years in the business, and 10 months after the death of her husband, Louis. According to a story in the May 25, 1986, Bulletin Journal, she and Louis had no motel experience. “We went on our honeymoon in New York City, and we stayed in motels. We liked the informality, and the fact you could drive right to the door and unload your luggage and you didn’t have to tip a bellhop.”
I-55 hadn’t been built yet, there weren’t too many roadside inns and no major chains in Cape Girardeau. The Marquette Hotel was it for upscale lodging. When they went to the bank for financing, the loan officer said they had better not build more than three or four rooms. They built five and filled them immediately. They eventually expanded to 42 rooms.
The motel was called the David Louis for the first year and a half, she said, named after their son. When they saw they were going to have other children, they changed it to the Sands.
From The Missourian:
February 27, 1960 – Advertisement: The Sands Motel – New facilties planned for 1960 are: Swimming Pool. Carport, New Units. BUT the same hospitality and friendly service. Your hosts in Cape Girardeau, Louis and Lynne Bahn. Highway 61 North (Formerly known as the David-Louis Motel)
March 3, 1960 – Building permit to General Sign Co. to erect a sign of non-combustible metal and plastic, electrically illuminated, on steel posts and frame at 1448 North Kingshighway for Sands Motel. Declared cost, $3,500.
May 17, 1960 – Construction began Monday on a swimming pool for the Sands Motel on Highway 61 built of precast concrete hauled to the site and installed as the four sides of the 19-by 42-foot tank. The Penzel Construction Co. of Jackson has the contract for the $8,500 pool.
A May 1963 display advertisement offered something different: Southern Pecan Pancakes for 75 cents. Mrs. Bahn said they realized early on that they needed a restaurant to feed their customers, “but we had very little money to stock the pantry. All we could afford was some flour, milk, shortening and a little sausage and bacon. Pancakes was one of the cheaper things we could make, so it became the Pancake House.”
February 22, 1964 – Advertisement: New at the Sands Motel – Wall hung TV’s. Exterior Lighting, Individual Room Thermostats, Blacktop Driveways, Pancake House, Full Menu. REMEMBER For A Home Away From Home THE SANDS MOTEL Highway 61, N., Cape.
Mr. and Mrs. Bahn were great at using and promoting other Cape businesses. Look at the merchants they got to buy into the idea of having people reserve a room at the Sands to do their Christmas shopping. Renting the room from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. meant that they could probably rent it twice in one day.
How do you like the rate of $8.25 a night?
It’s actually not all that cheap for the time. If you remember, Motel 6 was originally called that because rooms went for $6 a night; Super-8 rooms were $8. I paid $2 for a room in a boarding house in Piedmont when I covered Buck Nelson’s Flying Saucer Convention.
January 29, 1965 – Advertisement: We give you more for your money because we offer more for every dollar spent. Following is just a partial list of what we offer:
May 4, 1970 – Advertisement: Renovations included All wall mounted Magnavox TVs have been serviced by Shivelbine Music Store and have been put in perfect shape. They operate perfectly through the help of a 60 ft. tower, on which 3 separate antennas are mounted, one for each channel. This is then boosted by a Gerald system.
This May 11, 1970, ad above makes it sound like the Sands might have hit a rocky period while being managed by someone else. It was time to crack the whip.
The Bahns were good about keeping their money circulating in Cape. It was a great idea to give credit to the local merchants who were providing goods and services. I suspect mentioning all these stores insured that the word would go out that the Sands was a place “to receive a dollar Value for a dollar spent.”
May 6, 1979 – Bulletin-Journal advertisement: Cape Cable TV wishes to congratulate The Sands Motel upon the recent addition of Cable TV to their room services. Their guests may now choose from 10 channels (some 24 hours a day), plus stereo background music for their viewing and listening pleasure. We are sure this will be only one of many reasons you will find your stay at the Sands Motel a most pleasant experience. Cape Cable TV – 334 Christine.
The Missourian ran a special feature on “Progressive Businesses in the Cape Girardeau Area.” This was the entry for the Sands Motel.
May 18, 1983 – Sands Motel and the Pancake House, owned by Louis Bahn, Inc. since they were built 32 years ago has been sold to a couple from the Atlanta, Ga., area, it was announced Saturday.
The new owners are Mr. and Mrs. Sharad Kadakia, who formerly operated a motel know as Wildes Motel at Statesboro, Ga., before buying the Sands and Pancake House and moving here.
Mrs. Lynne Bahn, president of Louis Bahn, Inc., stressed that the Kadakias bought only the motel Pancake House and Pancake House, and no other corporate stock. The new owners have moved to Cape Girardeau along with their son, Ankesh, 14, and daughter, Ankita, 8. The have moved into the motel, said Mrs. Bahn.
“They have joined the Chamber of Commerce and plan to make several improvements to the motel,” she said. “I plan to stay around for a week or so to see to it that they will have a harmonious transfer. They will be fine citizens for Cape Girardeau.”
The names of the motel and restaurant will remain unchanged. The motel has 42 rooms and a swimming pool.
The problem with trying to piece together something from Google searches is that you are sometimes left with questions. When I searched The Missourian and the web for “Budget Inn Cape Girardeau,” a bunch of police briefs about petty thefts, vandalism and a rape was all that came up. I don’t know when it changed from Sands Motel to Budget Inn, and I don’t know when the swimming pool disappeared.
Over the years, I’ve found out something interesting about asking locals about the motels in their town: since they live there, most of them have never stayed in one, and those that have don’t generally want to talk about it.