Photos that continue to mystify

When Mom passed away back in 2004, I became the "Keeper of the Family Photos." Big Sis handed over a big Tupperware container of pics, some in frames, some not. I spent a lot of time working my way through that tub, supplemented now and again by strays Big Sis would find around her house, which was my parents' home since they married in 1956.

Going through the photos, I was delighted to find that most were carefully identified on the back with names, but not too many dates. Still, in the end, after checking and re-checking the images, I was left with around 40 photographs that had no names and no way to identify them. I stuffed them in a Ziploc bag and stuck them back in the tub, thinking someone might one day do what I could not.

Mom was also an amateur photographer. I found hundreds of negatives of all sizes. In many cases they matched photographs in the tub. But there was one envelope with negatives, but no prints. For some unknown reason Mom took pictures of pupils on the playground at St. Mary's Grade School in 1964. The only one I knew for sure was of Big Sis standing with her best friend, Bev, the former dressed in a jumper I'm sure Mom made for her, and Bev in a pretty plaid dress.

Through postings on Facebook, many of those youngsters have since been identified.

The Missourian used the same method years ago, publishing galleries of mystery photos taken by G.D. Fronabarger. Enthusiastic readers were able to identify many of the faces and scenes in those galleries.

But, still, there are some photographs that have defied our best efforts. I thought I'd share a few of my favorites in this blog. If you can add a fact or supply a name to a face, please share in the comments section below.

This first image is one I was able to locate on microfilm, so the date and IDs of those pictured is known. But I can find no other information on the Ozark Motorcycle Trail Club.

Published Oct. 2, 1947, in the Southeast Missourian:

Above are shown some of the members of the Ozark Motorcycle Trail Club. With headquarters at the Hillcrest Tavern, weekly meetings are held on Wednesday night when tours are planned. There are 45 members of the club. In the picture from the left are: Frank Mollenhour, Miss Virginia Wolters, Joe Lewis, Ollie Hopkins, Thelma Hanks, Bill Scott, Windslow Ross, Lee Hobbs, Bud Dickman, B.W. Birk, Don Lacy, Mr. and Mrs. John Hill, Mr. and Mrs. George Clark, Bobby Gammon, Willie Sides, Mrs. Harold James, Joe James, Harold James and Joe James Jr. (Ray Boren photo ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

This image was brought to me by longtime Missourian writer and editor, the late B. Ray Owen, when we were putting together our "City of Roses" pictorial history of Cape Girardeau in the early 1990s. We believed that it shows an early Cape Girardeau street scene, but I have never been able to confirm that. The only thing that links the image to Cape Girardeau is the sign on one of the buildings that reads "Cape Girardeau Beer Hall."

(B. Ray Owen photo ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

This is another photo that came to us for the "City of Roses" book. It shows a rally at the Frisco Railroad station on Water Street, near Broadway. One of the signs being held up reads "Benton." But who the sign refers to is a mystery.

(Hazel B. and B.W. Harrison photo ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

Many from my parish of St. Mary's Cathedral will recognize the bewhiskered man on the right in this photograph. The Rev. Eberhardt Pruente served the parish for 51 years, until his death in 1932. But it's the younger priest to the left who remains unidentified. The photograph was taken in front of Old St. Vincent's Church and school, so the mystery man may have been pastor of that church, or even president of nearby St. Vincent's College. Perhaps a member of that congregation will recognize him.

(Southeast Missourian archive)

Here, mules pull a long line of new wagons along an unpaved street at an unknown location. The date is also unknown. All I do know is that Lueders Studio made a copy of this very early photograph.

(Lueders Studio photo - Southeast Missourian archive)

When this photograph was given to us, the donator said she believed it was taken in 1905 and showed Cape Girardeau city official. But we haven't been able to verify that. It was believed to have been taken on the front porch of the Common Pleas Courthouse. Note the small boy peeking around the column at left.

(Southeast Missourian archive)

Just like the photo above, we have no identification for any of the women in this image. It was taken by Snider Photography of Cape Girardeau, probably in the 1890s.

(Snider Photography ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

A large group of men posed on the south side of the Frisco Railroad passenger station in the early 1920s, but we don't know who they were or what organization they represented.

(Southeast Missourian archive)

Concluding this blog is one of my favorite mystery photographs, taken by the late G.D. Fronabarger. We know nothing about it, except that it was likely taken in the Missouri Bootheel in the 1940s or '50s.

(G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)