Fred Lynch retired in 2018 after capturing 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.

Sani-Cream

Posted Friday, April 15, 2011, at 7:30 AM

This is the only picture we could find of Sani-Cream that was taken by G.D. Fronabarger. At the time, Missouri Pacific was repairing the railroad track in front of the business.

The Aug. 1, 1963 edition of the Southeast Missourian reported the sagging track would be raised to the level of the street and that the wavy pavement between the tracks would be removed and replaced. The worst conditions existed from Pacific west to the point between Hanover and Henderson where the tracks left Independence.

July 27, 1960 Southeast Missourian

TAKEN

Six loaves of bread and 14 packages of hotdog and hamburger buns were stolen from the Sani-Cream ice cream stand at 1015 Independence during Friday night, police said. The bread had been delivered to a rear door of the stand and left outside, the proprietor told officers.

Jan. 22, 1973 Southeast Missourian

J.D. Meehan, Jackson, reported theft of a 3-by-6 foot white wooden picnic table from outside his place of business, the Sani-Cream Co., 1015 Independence, Tuesday night or early Wednesday, approximate value $25.

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Fred,

I'm pretty sure I have some shots of the building taken a few years after that, but my film is in FL and I'm in Cape for another week or so.

-- Posted by ksteinhoff on Fri, Apr 15, 2011, at 12:00 PM
am i the only one that doesn't find the name "sani-cream" too appetizing?

-- Posted by TommyStix on Fri, Apr 15, 2011, at 12:35 PM
Nope Tommy I am feeling the same!!!!!!! :)

-- Posted by CommonCentsGal on Fri, Apr 15, 2011, at 1:11 PM
what is currently in this location?

-- Posted by travellin man on Fri, Apr 15, 2011, at 3:13 PM
I loved Sani Cream. I used to stay all nite with my aunt that lived right across the street....I always got a cone!!! Their fish sandwiches were the BEST!!

-- Posted by Scrapgirl on Fri, Apr 15, 2011, at 10:25 PM
It was the "Henny Penny" by the late 60's. I curb hopped there. I made a whopping 37 cents an hour. I doubled my salary when I went to work at A & W.

-- Posted by Professor_Bubba on Sat, Apr 16, 2011, at 7:11 AM
In the early 1960s I went to Sani Cream with my dad, brother and his friend after a Babe Ruth baseball game that he played in. He went up to the window to get a cone for him and his friend. On the way back to the car the top slid off one of the cones and ended up in the parking lot. My brother said very sincerely to his friend that HIS (the friend's) cone didn't make it. All was well as the employee saw the mishap and ran out with a replacement cone!

-- Posted by rockytop10 on Sat, Apr 16, 2011, at 9:38 PM
When I was in college, we had Sani Cream deliver food on Sunday evening (the cafeteria cooked only breakfast and lunch on Sunday)to Towers. It usually took 2 hours for delivery and the food was always cold. But, at that time (1969-70), it was the only place in town that delivered. On top of that, freshmen and sophomores weren't allowed to have cars, so we were stuck. (Dr. Scully believed that the city streets as well as the university parking lots were incapable of handling all that traffic from underclassmen. In retrospect, that might be true today.) Anyway, we called Sani Cream---you guessed it--- Sani Flush.

-- Posted by JungleJim on Mon, Apr 18, 2011, at 10:55 PM
BTW, someone asked what's there now. I believe its a vacant lot where a gas station used to be. In the pic you can see United Auto, which is still there on Independence. And yes, that is a railroad track in front. For years, freight trains ran down the middle of Independence to just west of Kingshighway delivering/picking up goods to the businesses along the way, i.e., a couple of lumber yards, Broadview manufacturers, etc. It was pretty frightening to be driving along when suddendly there was a locomotive in the middle of the road. Tracks removed in the early 80's or late 70's. The new Fountain is along a portion of that track.

-- Posted by JungleJim on Mon, Apr 18, 2011, at 11:02 PM
Sani-Flush? OMG!

-- Posted by voyager on Wed, Apr 20, 2011, at 2:23 PM

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