- A third steamer Cape Girardeau was christened 100 years ago (3/26/24)
- Cape Girardeau christens its namesake (3/19/24)
- The humanist philosophy of Lester Mondale (3/12/24)1
- Cape Osteopathic Hospital opens its doors (3/5/24)
- 8 killed and a million dollars damage done in 1924 tornado (2/27/24)1
- Jackson's militant priest, county recorder at odds over marriage licenses (2/20/24)
- Streaking fad comes to Cape (2/13/24)2
Bus transportation in 1946
As a child, I remember my Grandma Clara packing a small bag, and my dad driving her to the bus station in downtown Cape Girardeau. There she caught a bus to St. Louis. After a week or so visiting her brother, Tony Glaus, the process would be reversed: Grandma would ride another bus back to Cape, and Dad would pick her up from the station to return her to her family in South Cape.
Regularly scheduled bus trips out of Cape Girardeau seem to be a thing of the past, but 75 years ago they were even more common than in the early 1970s, when my grandmother left the driving to Greyhound. (For those too young to remember, Greyhound bus line's catchy motto was: "Go Greyhound and leave the driving to us!")
In 1946, the year after the end of World War II, Cape Girardeau was served by eight bus lines, with 126 buses traveling here in a 24-hour period. I suspect that a lot of that bus traffic was a holdover from the war years, when tires, gasoline and just about everything else was rationed. Buses were a great alternative for the traveling public, suddenly deprived of the easy transportation automobiles provided.
Here's a story from 1946 illustrating the service buses provided Cape Girardeau and the area.
Published July 20, 1946, in the Southeast Missourian:
126 BUSES SERVE CAPE DAILY
Served by eight lines, three of them major systems, Cape Girardeau has established a passenger bus service which, officials of these firms believe, is not equaled by another city this size in the country.
During each 24-hour period, there are 126 buses on regular schedules leaving and arriving at four local terminals. This number does not include double-headers, when schedules frequently require more than one bus. On holidays, it was estimated, as many as 150 buses arrive and depart from these terminals in a day.
Figures supplied by agents for the various lines reveal that during a 24-hour period there is an average of 1,195 ticket sales originating here and an estimated terminal traffic, which takes in passengers traveling through here on buses, of 2,720 persons.
One of the distinctive features of the service, according to bus lines' officials, is that Cape Girardeau is one of the very few cities in the nation where as many as three major lines serve c0ompetitive points. Here, three lines which serve Cape Girardeau also serve St. Louis, all over different routes. These lines are Greyhound, Southern Trailways and St. Louis-Cape. Other lines operating out of Cape Girardeau are Great Southern, Southeast Missouri, Frisco, Scofield and Carbondale-Harrisburg Bus Lines.
Two types of service are given the traveling public -- the long haul to distant points and the closer district points, the latter a commuter plan which places Cape Girardeau within short reach of many district points at virtually every hour of the day.
A visitor in Cape Girardeau, or a resident, may look up most any time of day while downtown and see a bus coming into or leaving one of the terminals. Bus line officials report this is one of the "best bus towns in the country."
Provide connections
On the long hauls the three major lines provide far-reaching connections. Southern Trailways, serving only Cape Girardeau and St. Louis in Missouri, provides connections in St. Louis with many other major lines, and south of here to Memphis, Tennessee, and other southern cities.
Greyhound lines, serving the South, run between Memphis, Cape Girardeau and St. Louis west of the Mississippi and connect in St. Louis with their lines, while St. Louis-Cape Bus Lines operates between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis.
Southern Trailways operates through Illinois, Greyhound over Highway 61, and St. Louis-Cape over Highway 25 to St. Louis, all serving the communities between the two cities on these routes.
Great Southern Lines operates out of Cape Girardeau south into Arkansas, connecting with lines serving Texas and other southern states.
St. Louis-Cape Bus Line recently inaugurated hourly service between Cape Girardeau and Jackson, supplementing its six regular schedules each day between the two communities. This commuter service is growing in patronage, being of particular value to persons in one town working in the other.
Service to district
Southeast Missouri Bus Lines operates 18 schedules in and out of Cape Girardeau daily, serving (the Missouri towns of) Illmo, Fornfelt, Chaffee, Oran, Sikeston, Charleston, Benton and East Prairie. This is virtually a commuter service and promotes considerable traffic between the communities.
Scofield Lines runs west to Lutesville, Marble Hill and Piedmont (Missouri), serving the district west of here, this line operating three schedules each way daily, also going to Poplar Bluff (Missouri). The Frisco Transportation Co. runs two buses daily between Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff, and the Carbondale-Harrisburg Line, which is growing in patronage, operates three schedules daily each way between Cape Girardeau and several southern Illinois towns, including Anna, Jonesboro, Carbondale and Harrisburg.
In addition to the passenger business the short lines do a considerable express business, carrying ice cream, auto parts and other merchandise.
A recent order by the City Council directed bus lines, when conditions permit erection of new terminals, to move off Broadway. This has already been done by two of the lines and others plan to follow with new locations. One line, Southern Trailways, is making plans to have a terminal at Themis and Middle streets.
All of the service in and out of town is augmented in the city for the traveler who may get to almost any point on the Cape Transit Corp. buses, which confine their operations to the city. Officials of this firm anticipate the city lines will carry more than 2,000,000 passengers this year.
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