A local piece of history coming back to life

Recently, a good friend of mine and yours, Mr. Don Hawkins, came into the office and brought eight brass printing trays, or chase trays from back in the letterpress days.

"The Hawkins Family, as some of you know, have their share of medical bills, more that you or I will care to have. They are down-sizing and will soon sell their house so they can get most of their bills dealt with. While cleaning out his shed, he came across these brass trays. Since I still had some connections in the printing industry, he thought I might know of a few folks that would like to purchase them," said Scott Seal, general manager of the Portageville Missourian.

Mr. Don told a brief story about these trays. "They go back as far as the previous owners of this newspaper, the Wright Family, Ed, Cora and son Erie. The original paper called, the Southeast Missourian, actually started in New Madrid in 1895.It is believed that these trays were made in 1896. It was published there until 1912. The paper was moved to Portageville in 1913 while Ed Wright was the owner."

"It was during that time when the World War was going on, the government ask folks to bring in any kind of brass they had. The government needed the brass to melt down to make artillery shell casings, knives and knuckles. These trays never made it, possibly still in use at the Wright's shop," said Hawkins.

The story does not end here. When he found the trays, he sat them aside to clean them. While cleaning them, he laid down his rag, and picked up another rag by mistake that already had some other chemical on it. He dabbed the brass cleaner on that rag, and the fumes of the two chemicals over took him, sending him to the hospital for a few days. He was diagnosed with chemical pneumonia. He has since recovered and doing good under current circumstances.

After he brought in the trays, I reached out members of the Southeast Missouri Press Association and received a couple of leads. Finally, I sold the brass trays to an individual who plans to donate them to Southeast Missouri State University. The trays will go to the Catapult Creative House, Southeast Missouri State University's groundbreaking creative arts and industries incubator at 612 S. Broadway in Cape Girardeau.

The Catapult helps anchor an entrepreneurial corridor on Broadway, complementing the work of the Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at 920 Broadway and the Center for Excellence in Mass Media at 325 Broadway, another innovation laboratory in partnership with Rust Communications and KFVS12.

The east side of the first floor houses a letterpress print shop where students and community members will have access to three rustmedia printing presses: a Vandercook press and a Chandler & Price press, which are the older, traditional models, and a Heidelberg press, more commonly used today.

The Chandler & Price press was built in the early 1950s and previously was located in a building at 13th and St. Louis Avenue in the Old North neighborhood of St. Louis. The building housing the press formerly was owned by Jaymar Co. but recently was purchased by the Old North Restoration Group. Near the end of its existence, the company had only 10 employees on one floor. The other three floors were filled with miscellaneous items, including the Chandler & Price press.

The historic press, likely used in its day to print small letterpress items, such as invitations, postcards and business cards, was acquired by Firecracker Press in St. Louis. Southeast alumna Katherine Miller who is employed by Firecracker Press, refurbished the press before it was acquired by rustmedia in Cape Girardeau.

Above, a SEMO students operates a letterpress at the Catapult Creative House dedication in october. Several students were on hand that day to demonstrate and produce pieces on the equipment housed in the facility.

Above, a SEMO students operates a letterpress at the Catapult Creative House dedication in october. Several students were on hand that day to demonstrate and produce pieces on the equipment housed in the facility.

- See more at: http://news.semo.edu/catapult-creative-house-to-promote-entrepreneurial-mindset-in-innovative-space. (Some information available from Southeast Missouri State University News Bureau.)