Cape's summer traditions

One hundred years ago, most of the 5,000 people in Cape Girardeau lived close to the river. The Mississippi was slower, shallower and safer then, and when summer arrived it was a primary source of entertainment. People fished along the bank and waded in the river. Few would have swum far into the channel because few people could swim at all.

Taking swimming lessons at swimming pools wouldn't become a summer rite until later in the 20th century. Every era has its own summer traditions, but staying cool is a common denominator.

Today marks the first day of another Southeast Missouri summer. Some traditions have stayed, some have gone and some have evolved.

Early in the 20th century, finding somewhere to cool off in the summer was paramount, said Dr. Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University and host of KRCU 90.9 FM's "Almost Yesterday" series. "On a good day they would find a cool place where they could find a cool breeze."

On summer Sundays a century ago, families from Cape Girardeau and as far north as Perryville, Mo., and south to Oran, Mo., rode wagons drawn by horses or mules to the mill at Burfordville, where they waded into the Whitewater River, clothes and all. Other families wanting to stay closer to home might do the same along Indian Creek or Sloan's Creek. They packed a picnic lunch of fried chicken, pies and cakes. The excursion usually took the whole day, and the family had to be home by dark because street lights hadn't been erected yet.

Families threw horseshoes and played croquet in their backyards. Baseball games between Southeast Missouri towns were popular. Sometimes these were pickup games. The teams would designate an umpire. "Often it was somebody they respected who would try to keep order," Nickell said. "Maybe the superintendent of schools or the undertaker."

A century later, American Legion and semipro teams still play games against other towns, and the in-town summer baseball leagues that sprang up after World War II remain active.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com Thirteen-year-old Anthony Dudding swam toward the wall of Capaha Pool during his swimming lesson Wednesday.

Dances were popular summertime activities at the beginning of the 20th century. The ground at a spot near Friedheim was hard-packed during the summer from dancing. Some drinking occurred, too. The place became known as Mother's Worry.

The municipal band presented concerts regularly at the gazebo in Common Pleas Courthouse Park through the first half of the 20th century. The concerts continue in Capaha Park, and the courthouse park is now home to the summer folk music series Tunes at Twilight.

Except for the wealthy, vacations were almost unknown a century ago. In the summer parents might send a child or two off to spend a few weeks with an aunt or uncle who lived in another state.

Fifty years ago, staying cool was still the focus of summer activity in Cape Girardeau. The first swimming pool at Capaha Park had opened in 1919, an oval not a lot bigger than a large private pool today. It was replaced in 1957 by the much bigger current pool.

Few soldiers who fought in World War II knew how to swim, Nickell said, in part because so many people drowned at swimming holes. "People were afraid of water."

"I never did learn to swim," said Jo Leadbetter, a 70-year-old Cape Girardean who grew up in Carbondale, Ill. "My mother was odd that way. She said, 'You can't get in the water until you learn to swim,' but yet would never let me get in the water. She was afraid I'd drown."

But pools had lifeguards. People decided their children should learn how to swim. Swimming lessons at Capaha Pool are underway today just as they were 50 years ago. The pool offers six levels of lessons in three sessions. The second begins June 30. Most taking the lessons are children, but adult lessons are offered, too.

"It's like learning to play golf when you're 40 or baseball when you're 15," pool manager Patrick Watson said. "It takes some dedication and hard work."

Every family had its own techniques for staying cool before air conditioning. Susan McClanahan, administrator at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center, said her mother put the six children's pillows in the freezer before they went to bed to keep them cooler during the night. Leadbetter's mother put chunks of ice in a washcloth tied around her neck to keep her cool during the day.

Fay Sandusky, 66, of Jackson grew up in the country. Her mother pumped cold water from their well into a wash tub big enough for three children. "It was so cold your lips would turn blue," she recalled.

Taking a car ride with the windows down in the early evening was one way to cool off. Air-conditioned movie theaters were another. "Come in. It's cool inside," the theaters advertised. Going to the Star Vue Drive-in, once the largest drive-in in the state, became another summer ritual from the 1950s through the 1970s. The drive-in was along Kingshighway where the Fountainbleau Lodge is now.

In the mid-20th century, the ubiquity of automobiles and more durable tires allowed families to travel for a summer vacation. "Disneyland couldn't have existed without the interstate highways," Nickell said.

When families traveled they brought their own food because restaurants were rare and never open on Sundays. Families pulled their car over and ate at picnic tables the state placed beneath trees along the highways.

Parents sent their children to Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps.

This first day of summer 2008, staying cool isn't nearly as difficult. Life for most people is air-conditioned from home to car to work. But some traditions remain. Summer school is a tradition that has changed. In the middle of the 20th century summer school was mostly remedial.

"In my era if someone had to go to summer school it was almost an embarrassing thing," said Barbara Blanchard, who began teaching at Washington School in 1962 and retired as its principal. "But even when I was teaching a lot of children wanted to come to summer school."

Summer school might decide whether the child proceeds to the next level, but teachers tried to make it fun, she said. "We told the kids school needs to be fun. It's also hard work. Life's fun, but it's also hard work."

The Cape Girardeau School District's summer school for kindergarten through fourth grade is taught at Blanchard Elementary School, named for Barbara Blanchard. The students can eat breakfast and lunch at the school before leaving at 1 p.m. Computer classes unheard of 50 years ago are one focus. No one is mandated to attend, but some of the nearly 200 students are doing so because they need to get their reading skills up to grade level.

Summer school began June 3 and ends today, about half the length of the sessions when Blanchard taught.

The Fourth of July has been celebrated in much the same way over the past century. Fireworks were easily obtained 100 years ago and discharged without the precautions taken today. Trying to propel an anvil into the air with dynamite became a popular Fourth of July stunt. "I've seen it attempted twice without success," Nickell said.

Next month's Libertyfest and Regional Air Festival, presented in tandem for the first time, have been moved from downtown Cape Girardeau to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport because of expected high water on the Mississippi River.

Anyone who has attended past air shows knows staying cool will be a challenge. Ice chunks in washcloths might help.