Main Street Archives

May 20, 2012

Cup ‘N’ Cork

I shot this late in the day when the afternoon sun added warmth to the bricks and ironwork.The Cup ‘N’ Cork is located at 46 North Main Street, at the corner of Main and Themis. You can click on the photos to make them larger.

Cup ‘N’ Cork is THE place to meet

I’ve been in the Cup ‘N’ Cork at least a dozen times, including when I met Pat Sommers and Terry Hopkins there last fall. Way back in the background you can see a fellow wearing black and purple. That’s Gary Rust thinking Big Thoughts or doing whatever newspaper moguls do. In contrast, that’s Terry in the foreground.

It’s getting to be one of THE downtown meeting places. When I’ve asked folks where they want to get together, that’s one of the most-often suggested locations. The food is good, the pie is great and the wait staff and owners are friendly.

I guess I’ll have to stop thinking about eating and talking on my next visit so I can shoot the interior.

April 13, 2012

Second Glance Stuff

From time to time, I meander through old photos to see if something catches my eye that I might have missed. I was telling a friend the other day that there’s almost always a reason WHY you shot a picture, you just may not realize it the first time you look at it, particularly if you have a particular story in mind. (Click on any photo to make it larger.)

The first couple of these shots fit into the “What am I seeing in that window?” category. The shot above was on the north side of Broadway just east of Annie Laurie’s Antiques. The dummies, if that’s what they are, just popped out at me as I was walking down the street. When I looked at the frame later, I liked the cool cast the bluish colors give the overall image, then there’s that incongruous splatter of fluorescent orange around what appears to be a gas line.

Another dummy in the window

This is the building at the southwest corner of Main Street and Broadway that housed the St. Charles Drug Store after the St. Charles Hotel was torn down. It had once been used by the Singer Company. You can see the Singer sign if you look closely at the photos of the teen dance held in the First National Bank parking lot. Some of Main Street Midnight Madness pictures may have been taken inside the drug store.

Stag Beer

No telling how many times this Stag beer sign has been painted over. It’s on the side of a building being restored on the southwest corner of Independence and Frederick.

Building on Water Street

I thought it was curious how the stacked pallets mimic the windows in this Water Street building, down to the colors.

December 23, 2011February 20, 2015

Buckner’s Pneumatic Tubes: Gone

Let’s get the big question out of the way first: the pneumatic tubes that whisked your money to and from the cashiers are gone. Not a trace of them remains, the owner said.

This isn’t the definitive story on the Buckner-Ragsdale building, by the way. I just knocked off a few shots when I stopped by on another errand. We’ll do it up right on the next trip.

UPDATE to original story about Buckner-Ragsdale

I won’t need to do the definitive story on the long-time Cape business. Reader JTL left this link to the Lamkin family website.

Be sure to follow this link to advertisements, photos of the store and its employees and all sorts of historical information. This will take you back to an era where customer service was a reality, not a buzzword.

“Messrs. Buckner, Ragsdale & Lamkin built the store upon and retained those principals of retailing that placed the customer first. Services such as free alterations, free delivery, no interest credit, free gift wraping and an in depth knowledge of customers maintained in the memories of the large and loyal sales staff differentiated Mainstreet retailing from the Sears catalog. During the 1970s, marketing professors at Southeast Missouri State College often used Buckners as an example of an antiquated, not numbers oriented retail establishment. It was, without apology. Those inculcated with modern retailing practices might try this experiment. Call the Macy’s salesperson most knowledgeable of your personal preferences and say, “I’m going to a Texas Hold ’em party tonight. You know what I like. Send me five dresses/coats/pairs of shoes on the afternoon delivery, and I’ll pick one. I’ll return the others sometime next week, and pay for the one I keep maybe next month.” What response would one receive for this once standard 60’s request?”

Buckner-Ragsdale photo gallery

These are details I thought were interesting on a cold, rainy, blustery day. It don’t take me long to lose interest when icy water is dripping down my collar. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

December 8, 2011July 17, 2016

Chickens in the City

Florida Foodie buddy Jan Norris sent me a link this morning about how chickens became a war crop during World War I. I thought it was interesting, but not that exciting.

Now I see chickens everywhere

I was shooting a building in th 100 block of North Main Street for a story when I stepped into the alley for a different angle. In my newly chicken-sensitized state, I immediately was drawn to these stencils.

If I was back in the Fine Arts program at Ohio University, we could spend hours analyzing the hidden meanings behind this work of folk art. Is there a significance to the order of the colors? Does the red signify blood? Is it a political statement about the Trickle-Down Theory? Let’s dissect the racial angle. Is it significant that there are no black chickens? Is the white chick on the bottom for a reason? Why are they perched on a drain?

I have to admit that it is curious that the “artist” went to the trouble of using four colors, plus red. Was he / she trying to figure out which color was most suitable for concrete?

Cape has been made safe from chickens

With all of the other obsessions with regulations, I just KNEW Cape would have had to legislate chickens in some form or another. Indeed, an Oct. 10, 2010, Scott Moyers‘ story in The Missourian said that an ordinance that would allow Cape Girardeans to keep up to 10 hens (no roosters) per tract for non-commercial uses was headed for adoption.

Unfortunately for folks hoping to be able to get their fresh eggs from their backyards, the city council switched gears during its Nov. 15, 2010, meeting and put the kibosh on chickens in the city.

Let the Hen Whip the Kaiser!

While trying to find examples of chicken posters, I came across this great site with lots of war era food posters. It’s worth a visit. This poster was from the College Station, Texas, Extension service in 1917.

Keeping chickens: patriotic and profitable

This USDA poster urges farmers not so sell laying hens. You could make more money selling the eggs than the chicken, it pointed out.

When you look at the posters from those eras, it’s clear that the American public was expected to sacrifice to win the wars.

Where’s THIS message?

Here’s a piece I did when gas prices were headed to four bucks a gallon this spring. It talked about the June 11, 1943, Missourian Phillips 66 ad headlined “You are a Soldier in The Battle of Transportation.”

Have you seen this World War II message delivered on TV, radio or print or by any politicians?

“Every bit of rubber and gasoline you save on the home front is a contribution to the combat needs of our fighting men on every battle front.

“You can help hasten the day of victory by confining your driving to a patriotic minimum. Use your car only for going to and from work …for needed shopping…for war-time activities like vegetable gardening…for travel to and from places without other transportation facilities.

“Remember, your Government asks you to do your part to prevent a transportation breakdown, asks you to care for your car–for your country.”

The concept of shared sacrifice for the common good just isn’t popular these days, I guess.