CAPE GIRARDEAU COLLECTIBLES: MEMORABILIA PROVIDE FOOTNOTES TO CITY HISTORY

Postcards, signs, old maps, calendar plates and other memorabilia are footnotes to a city's rich history.

For example, how many people know that Otto Frederick never missed a day from his downtown jewelry store in 46 years? Better yet, how many know that Otto Frederick operated a jewelry store in Cape Girardeau?

Harlan Smothers knows about the store. Smothers, a local antiques dealer, has one of Frederick's old, metal advertising signs.

"I knew he was in business at the turn of the century," said Smothers.

Frederick, a native St. Louisan, opened his jewelry store at 112 Independence St. in 1880 and operated it through the mid-1920s.

Another downtown jeweler was Ed Steinmeyer, who operated a store at 112 N. Main St. Smothers, one of several Cape Girardeau memorabilia collectors, has a Steinmeyer sign in his collection.

Randy Huebel also is always on the hunt for a Cape Girardeau postcard or early photograph.

"Whether it's a post card of an old trolley or an early photo card of the Common Pleas Courthouse, it shows history," said Huebel.

Community-related memorabilia offer historic significance, agree Huebel and Smothers. "When you acquire a new item, you head into the history archives to research it," said Huebel.

Popular lithograph

One of the more popular collectibles from Cape Girardeau is a poster-sized "Bird's-Eye View" of the city, circa 1880. An original lithograph by Damm & Staab of St. Louis is almost impossible to find. A limited edition of 5,000, 17.5-by-23-inch prints were made on beige parchment, but only two of the copies have emerged during auctions this year.

Another old Cape Girardeau oddity is a hand-held hair dryer, chrome with wood handle, produced by Superior Electric Products Co. in Cape Girardeau. Superior produced many household appliances during the 45 years it operated in the area.

Superior opened in 1938 at 1507 Independence. During World War II, its operations were suspended for lack of metals needed for appliances, but it made bomb parts. The plant closed in 1982.

Calendar plates and postcards are among the easiest memorabilia to acquire.

"A lot of postcards are still available," said Huebel. "Some of them may come at high costs, especially what we call crossover' cards."

Crossover cards could attract collectors of Cape Girardeau memorabilia as well as other collectors, he said. "If a Cape Girardeau card includes a riverboat photo, it will attract the attention of riverboat collectors, too," he explained.

Post card prices can range from as little as $1 to as much as $100.

The same is true of calendar plates. Many of the calendar plates include the months around the plate with the advertiser's name at the bottom and a scene in the middle.

A number of local-interest milk bottles can be found from Sunny Hill Dairy, Schonhoff Dairy, Armstrong Dairy and Midwest. Old Milde soda bottles, made in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, can still be found along with Coca-Cola bottles made in the 1940s.

A Coca-Cola franchise has been in the Jackson area since 1924, when Alvin D. Milde acquired the franchise. Milde's father had founded E. Milde's Soda Co. in 1894. The company manufactured Milde's Flavors for its first 30 years. After obtaining the Coke franchise, it became Milde Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

"I started out as a Coke collector," said Huebel. "Then I started adding other bottles and advertising stuff."

Huebel started postcard collecting when he found some Cape Girardeau cards that showed the old Riverview Hotel at Broadway and Water Street. "I had never seen that building," he said. "I bought the cards. My grandmother gave me an album of old cards, and I've been into cards ever since."

There are thousands of Cape Girardeau postcards, the collectors said.

Trolley system

One of the cards shows the electric trolley system that operated here. The Cape Girardeau and Jackson Interurban Street Railway Co. was founded in 1905. The trolley cars originally ran on a single track from Broadway to Sprigg, to Good Hope to Spanish and back. The line was later extended to Capaha Park, the old shoe factory on North Main and along part of West End Boulevard. But automobiles became popular, and in 1934 the streetcars quit running, never having made it to Jackson.

Huebel also has a number of Cape Girardeau books.

"Numerous booklets and brochures were published about Cape in the 1930s and 1940s," he said. "Some of the popular ones are booklets on the 10-mile rose garden, which was located between Cape Girardeau and Jackson and on Cape Rock Drive."

What is considered the rarest of Cape Girardeau memorabilia?

"It's whatever you may want to collect," said Smothers. "For me, it's that Steinmeyer Jewelry sign. For someone else, it might be an early picture of the Cape Girardeau riverfront minus the wall."