Missourian photographer Fred Lynch published a Frony picture of a Christmas Parade taken in the early to mid-50s in his blog this week. It was shot on the north side of Broadway, looking back toward the southwest, in the direction of The Missourian building.
Broadway was still paved with granite cobblestones and the remains of the street car rails can still be seen.
1966 SEMO Homecoming Parade
In my digging through my negatives, I’ve come across at least two SEMO homecoming parades. This one is probably the 1966 Homecoming because the 1966 Homecoming Queen is in one of the cars and the 1965 Queen is in another one.
Marquette Hotel used for student housing
The Marquette must have been used for student housing at some point, because there are student-age people hanging out the windows. There are two women and a man standing on the rooftop to the right of the Marquette. There is a microphone stand in front of them, so they are probably doing live parade coverage for KFVS.
If you look closely under the awning of the hotel, you can see the Civil Defense shelter placard to the right of the door.
KFVS Tower is missing
One thing that’s missing from this picture is Cape’s version of a skyscraper – the KFVS building. The 13-story building wasn’t built until two years later.
Here’s what the block looks like in 2009
Fred asked if anyone knew what happened to the granite cobblestones appearing in Frony’s photo. They were removed in 1956.
I wonder if they might have been used to replace the cobblestones on the river front. If anyone has any ideas, leave a comment and I’ll pass the information on to Fred.
Except for the KFVS building, the block still looks pretty much the same as in did in 1966. The building the broadcasters are standing on was the TV station location. When the tower was built, the TV station moved into it and KZIM radio (formerly KFVS radio) moved into that building.
Gallery of Homecoming Photos
Here is a gallery of photos taken of the parade. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left of right side of the photo to move through the gallery.
Ruth Ann Seabaugh, Toni Grose and (I think) Nancy Swan strut past the Rialto Theater.
