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Mostly Cloudy ~ River stage: 33.18 Rising Friday, November 20, 2009 |
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Old Post Office had Cape's first revolving door
Posted Monday, November 16, at 1:00 AM
This photograph taken by Garland D. Fronabarger shows the interior of the old post office in the Federal Building in Cape Girardeau, located at the southeast corner of Broadway and Fountain streets. With the number of people in the lobby, it was probably taken during the Christmas season.
A poster on the wall has a picture of President Dwight D. Eisenhauer: "Let's make every day Safe Driving Day." This was a program started in the middle 1950s. It's objective was to have 24 hours without a single traffic accident, and that would impress upon citizens to drive safely throughout the year.
On the left side of the picture is a revolving door.
Our librarian, Sharon Sanders, states:
"I have been told it was the first revolving door in Cape Girardeau. I also heard that the kids of town thought of it as an amusement ride when it was first installed, going around and around in it."
Following is a note from our files:
Oct. 25, 1910 The new-fangled revolving door at the entrance of the Federal Building, which twists around and swipes us hard in the back before we are thrown out on one side or the other, has been playing havoc with a lot of us country people. Four elderly ladies who wanted their mail and knew that the carriers were not delivering it, crowded into one compartment and began shoving. The rear panel hit the last lady and jolted the forward panel back to crash into the front one. Then the pesky thing stopped, and they were cooped up like so many rats in a trap.
The post office remained in that building until the current post office was built in 1965. The Federal Building was razed in 1967 to make room for a new federal building.
Old Post Office (Federal Building) 1958 The old post office in Cape Girardeau was situated at the southeast corner of Broadway and Fountain streets. This Federal Building was built in 1908-10 and housed the federal courtroom and offices as well as the post office. The post office remained in that building until the current post office on Frederick Street was built in 1965...
Fire destroys Hotel Idan-Ha from Southeast Missourian, June 29, 1968: Predawn Blaze Damages Hotel A general-alarm blaze early this morning destroyed the main section of the 65-year-old Idan-Ha Hotel which had been vacated only two weeks earlier after being declared unsafe. The fire also destroyed a dress shop and restaurant beneath as well as badly...
Hotel Idan-Ha This picture of the Hotel Idan-Ha shows a three-story hotel at the southwest corner of Broadway and Fountain that was built in 1908-09 by A.J. Flentge of Cape Girardeau. A five-story structure to its south was apparently built in 1912. The Hotel Idan-Ha was opened to the public on March 8, 1909...
Harris Motor Car Co. 1930s A 1937 Ford approaches Lorimier Street in the flash-flooded 200 block of Broadway during the late 1930s in Cape Girardeau. The building is the Harris Motor Car Co., Cape Girardeau's agent for Dodge cars. Our librarian, Sharon Sanders, found some information about the business in the Southeast Missourian archives...
Broadway pre-Hirsch Tower Frony stepped outside the Southeast Missourian building and made this picture of flash flooding in the 300 block of Broadway during the early 1950s. The Marquette Hotel was tallest building on the street at that time. The 13-story Hirsch Tower would be constructed about 15 years later. It became the home of KFVS television after a topping out ceremony in December, 1967...
SEMO Homecoming 1957 Crowds watch the homecoming parade for Southeast Missouri State College on Broadway in this picture taken on Nov. 2, 1957. The float is a giant typewriter with the student newspaper, Capaha Arrow, announcing the score of the homecoming football game with Southwest Missouri State of Springfield...
Mule Racing Many people around here know about jumping mules. It's an annual event at the East Perry County Fair at Altenburg, Mo. But what about mule racing? Not so much. We have photographic evidence that such a race took place in Cape Girardeau, possibly in the 1950s...
Remember Park-N-Eat? Remember Park-N-Eat? I am only familiar with Choctaw Park, where the Jaycee Joyland is presently located on the site of the drive-in restaurant that opened July 8, 1940. Our librarian, Sharon Sanders, found this information in the Southeast Missourian archive that was published July 9, 1940:...
Remember Wimpy's? Remember Wimpy's Drive-In? I found this old photograph taken June 22, 1968. It shows Wimpy's located at the northeast corner of Kingshighway and Cape Rock Drive in Cape Girardeau. What looks like a flashing red light hangs over the intersection across from Arena Park. Cape Rock Drive looks under construction...
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Fred Lynch has captured images for the Southeast Missourian since 1975, in that time moving from black-and-white to color, from film to digital and to video. The blog title is a nod to an earlier era of news photography and the 4x5 Speed Graphic: It's more important to be there for the shot than to worry about technical details.
Hot topics Old Post Office had Cape's first revolving door(  4 ~ 2:32 PM, Nov 17)
Old Post Office (Federal Building) 1958
Remember Park-N-Eat?
Fire destroys Hotel Idan-Ha
Hotel Idan-Ha
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