Cape Girardeau History and Photos
News photos that have grown whiskers and have become history
You’re on your own on this one. The negative sleeve said “Notre Dame Highlites Queen Crowning,” but it didn’t have a date, so I couldn’t find it in The Missourian to get more information.
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Seeing all of the religious pictures on Facebook this week go me to thinking of how many photos of crosses I have taken in the area over the years. Here are just a few, with links to the original stories. You may click on any photo to make it larger. This is an aerial of the Bald Knob Cross taken not long after it was built.
Egypt Mills Trinity Lutheran Church steeple.
Joseph Putz’s metal grave marker in the St. John’s Lutheran Church cemetery in Pocahontas.
This simple church sits high on a ridge north of Neely’s Landing.
Kenneth Saunders walked more than 4,000 miles to deliver the message that “Judas got a raw deal.”
I was walking back to my car after shooting another photo when I spotted Trinity Lutheran Church at dusk.
This concrete cross has a plaque: “In 1699, Fathers Montigny, Davion and St. Cosme, French missionaries, erected a cross where this stream entered the Mississippi and prayed that this might be the beginning of Christianity among the Indians. The stream has ever since been known as Cape La Croix Creek.” The cross, which had been at the intersection of Kingshighway and Kingsway from 1947 to 2009, when it was moved so a commercial building could be built on the site. Ironically, the marker has never been located close to where the Mississippi River and Cape LaCroix Creek intersect.
This cross is in a tiny cemetery located on a high ridge overlooking the ever-diminishing Dutchtown.
I spotted this cross in Nelsonville, Ohio, on my recent trip back to Ohio University.
At first glance, I thought the front of the old Notre Dame High School had been covered with graffiti.
Newspaper accounts said the 57-foot tall, 16′ x 16′ Tower of Memories at the Cape County Memorial Park Cemetery would have three stories: the bottom floor would contain an office and the second and third floors would house the Celesta-Vox, touted as “The Voice from the Heavens.”
I was hoping to shoot the full moon and fireworks when St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church caught my eye.
The St. Eisleben Lutheran Church in Scott City has one of the most unusual steeples I’ve seen.
An “inland hurricane” took the steeple off the Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, but you could never tell it today when you look at the 1867 structure..
I should have flipped through a few more envelopes before posting the story about Notre Dame High School’s production of Brigadoon in 1967. I not only found more pictures, but I stumbled across the story about the play in The Missourian.
Laura Todt, who was in the photo gallery in that story, did all the choreography for the production, cast the dancers, taught them the numbers and directed the dancing. The April 5, 1967, Missourian story said Laura is performing the Funeral Dance in this picture.
Laura, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herman Todt, 523 Minnesota, did all the choreography for The Sound of Music the previous year. Sister Rose Michelle, director of speech and drama at Notre Dame, said “We selected Brigadoon rather on purpose for Laura. Since this is her senior year and we feel she has such talent, we thought we’d give her this chance.”
She had to cast a total of 83 dancers for eight numbers. You can read the first part of The Missourian story, but the jump was filmed sideways and part of the left side of the column is unreadable.
The story said Judy Essner, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony P. Essner, and David Scherer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Scherer would play the leading roles on Friday and Sunday nights. Gretchen Hill, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Hill Jr., and Richard Graham, son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Frank Graham would be on the stage opening night and Saturday.
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The negative sleeve said Notre Dame Play 02-28-1967, then the 02 was overwritten to read 03-28-1967. The Missourian’s Google Archive has big holes in it for the weeks around both dates, so I’m going to have to guess this is a production of Brigadoon. Whatever it is, there is lots of cavorting going on, seemingly to music. One thing that is readily apparent is that not every male is made for a kilt.
Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery. Chime in if you recognize anyone.
