TOWNS GROW SILENT 22 YEARS AFTER I-55 OPENING

Ken Buchheit at Hotop's in Uniontown, the only place between Fruitland and Perryville along Highway 61 to get something to eat and drink.

Highway 61 stretches from Fruitland to Perryville and beyond like a lazy yawn that no longer needs to be stifled.

Barns situated close to the highway appear brittle, buckled and in dire need of repair. Others seem freshly painted.

There are constant contrasts: rows of new homes punctuated by buildings that have been abandoned and withered for many years. Cars that once traveled the highway during its heyday are now crippled and cast to the side, stark reminders of what once was.

Everything is laid back now. Christmas ornaments were still visible on many homes some 15 days after the holiday. A motel has become a graveyard for household appliances and assorted machinery.

Bob Schnurbusch, who started a poultry business in Old Appleton over 50 years ago, misses the stores and local color that once defined his hometown. In fact, he used to be able to sleep better when a constant drone of cars could be heard outside his bedroom window.

"After the traffic went away, I had trouble falling asleep at night," he said. "But I think there are still a lot of cars on this road. It's just nothing like it used to be."

Schnurbusch has been around long enough to remember when groceries were purchased with something other than paper or coins.

"I remember when you used to be able to take chickens into the general store and trade them for groceries," said Schnurbusch, who will be 70 in April. He also recalls the name of the local beer known for having quite a kick.

"McGovern's Beer was advertised with a mule on the label," Schnurbusch said. "I remember they used to take a mule into the local tavern and, with the animal's backside to the bar, feed it a few beers in front of the customers."

Did McGovern's Beer really have the kick of a mule? "You're darned tootin' it did," he said. Today Schnurbusch said the only thing for sale are postage stamps and a cold soda at Hall's Trucking Co.

Charles Franke and Clint Detjan remember a time when the highway served as an aorta that dictated how fast the heartbeat of several small towns skipped.

Clad in a brown jumpsuit and cap, Franke sipped from his draft beer in Hotop's bar and restaurant in Uniontown, just north of Old Appleton. Hotop's is, in Franke's estimation, one of the last watering holes along Highway 61 that he can still expect to be open after he hunts quail or attends to his farm chores.

Franke and his hunting partner flashed knowing smiles as they reflected on the vast changes in Highway 61, towns like Old Appleton, Uniontown and Longtown after Interstate 55 became the more-efficient four-lane stretch of highway in 1972. I-55 also was the safer; the narrow and winding two-lane Highway 61 claimed many lives.

"There were so many accidents, you didn't wait for an ambulance to show up," said Franke, a farmer who has lived between Old Appleton and Uniontown since 1951. "The funeral homes took care of the accidents. They only had two choices: the morgue or the hospital. At times, driving on highway 61 was like playing Russian roulette."

Detjan, a telephone repairman from Perryville, said the culverts built next to the highway actually became more of a hazard than a safety feature.

"They were built to allow for water drainage," Detjan said. "But what happened is cars would go off the road, run into the culverts, and have an accident. Imagine what that would be like at 70 miles an hour."

Franke said motorists often become frustrated during peak traffic hours and took chances to pass slower-moving vehicles.

Before I-55 opened, when Highway 61 was the primary route of travel between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis, towns tethered to it thrived. "Every town had its gas station and bar," Franke said. "There was usually some business in town that would employ a fair number of the residents. You could see that in every town around here."

Now Franke and Detjan have to make sure they have enough gas in the tank to reach the closest station. "You never had to look to see if you were running too low, because there was always a station just around the corner or not more than a few miles away," Franke said.

Traffic jams on weekends caused families to leave early for nearly everything from dances to Sunday church services. "I remember, we would leave at least 15 minutes early for church just to make it on time," Detjan said. "There would be a line of traffic backed up for two-and-a-half miles just outside of Perryville on a Sunday morning."

Today you can leave for church a few minutes before services are scheduled to begin and expect to arrive in time.

Detjan remembers when hotels, motels, dance halls and general stores gave each town its own personality. "I remember there used to be The Sunset and Twilight dance halls," Detjan said. "You would go to one early in the evening and end up at the other later in the night."

Next to Hotop's is an antique shop and post office. The building looks as old as the antiques it houses. "That used to be a combination general store and post office," Franke said.

The antique store is open for business, but you need to call to make an appointment or walk to the white house next to Hotop's to get someone to let you in. In Highway 61's heyday, antique shops along the road in Cape Girardeau and Perry counties bustled with activity.

"Things have changed a lot since this highway was the only way to get from one place to the next," Franke said. Asked if he missed the hustle and bustle of Highway 61 some 22 years ago, Franke offered a slight grin: "I don't know. If you really want more than this, you can just drive to where it's at. The only difference is that you have to drive farther."

Franke and Detjan aren't bothered by what they no longer have, however. "We still come in here a few times a week and relax. We see some people we know, and it's kind of nice," Franke said. "It's not what it used to be, but nothing can stay the same forever."

A few months before Interstate 55 opened, Uniontown had four service stations, a cafe, a barber shop, a general store and an antique shop. The have since ceased operations.

Now there is just a post office, antique shop and Hotop's Bar and Grill.

Delores Hacker of Uniontown can remember when something as simple as mailing a letter or buying stamps was a long wait before I-55 was completed. "It used to be you just stood and stood until you finally got your call. Now it's a piece of cake," she said.

Hacker can recall when she would go to Winter's General Store or Bill and Jan Schott's furniture store. There was also Oberndorfer's automobile repair shop.

Lynn Winter, whose parents owned the Winter General Store for 39 years, from 1939-1978, said his father feared for his life when a robber broke in one night. "I was only a week old at the time," said Winter, who works for Schaefer Water Works in Longtown and Perryville. "The robber tied my dad up and threatened to shoot him. My dad pleaded for his life, telling the robber that he had a child to take care of."

Lynn's father was able to convince the robber to spare his life. "Dad told the robber to tie him up with material he knew would stretch. That's how he was eventually able to free himself and call the authorities to apprehend the robber."

One of Lynn's fondest memories of Highway 61 was sitting on the front porch of the home he would inherit from his parents and watching the race cars, bound for a Cape Girardeau track, make their way south.

"After the new highway was finished, all of that changed," he said. "It's funny but I remember the change happening literally from one moment to the next. It was kind of eerie to hear all the noise from traffic one day and then almost nothing the next."

When I-55 became the preferred means of transport, stores like the Winters' were headed for an early retirement.

"Mr. Oberndorfer retired, Mrs. Schott went back to teaching and Mr. Winter retired and closed the store," Hacker recalled. "It seemed like a lot of people retired after the new highway was completed."

With the emergence of I-55, Hacker said a drive to Cape Girardeau is no longer a lengthy trip. "It used to be you would check the tires and make sure the car was OK to make the trip to Cape," Hacker said. "Now you just get in your car and go."

Hacker said she enjoys the quiet that came with less traffic. However, she did enjoy the convenience of shopping at local stores. "It's not as noisy, but I do miss the stores that used to be around here," she said. "They had their own look that seemed to be part of the town."

Winter could see some irony in the emergence of I-55. "The more people were able to get from one place to the next in a shorter period of time, the easier it was to find work outside of their hometown," he said. "It didn't cause them to move away, though. I think if anything that enabled a lot of people to stay close to their roots and maybe even get a better job."

The Schaefer Water Works in Longtown will be relocating to Perryville soon. "Another sign of the times, I guess," said Winter. "I'm staying here, though. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else."