Years and years ago, I'm guessing when I was in eighth grade or a freshman in high school, I remember going on a tour of Kent Library on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. I remember being impressed by Jake Wells' magnificent mural overlooking the front lobby of the library, the shelves of books that seemed to go on forever, and G. Owen Bonawit's stained glass panels. But, bibliophile that I am, what impressed me the most on that tour was the rare book room...

A 1956 article in the Southeast Missourian notes that the Cape Girardeau chapter of the American Red Cross was established on May 28, 1917, almost 36 years to the day after Clara Barton founded the Red Cross. According to the story: "The Red Cross chapter has two primary responsibilities that it must carry on to fulfill the basic obligations of the congressional charter. These are (1) service to servicemen, veterans and their dependents... and (2) disaster preparedness and relief..."...

The Nancy Hunter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution rented the New Broadway Theater for two days, showing "The Frontier Woman" and "Daddies" as a fundraiser in June 1924. In addition, the Daughters displayed family heirlooms in the windows of the Union Electric Light and Power Co., next door to the theater. (Southeast Missourian archive)...

Continuing from where we left off in last week's blog, here are four more family histories composed by members of the Nancy Hunter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution...

Last week's blog featured a story about a motion picture showing in 1924 that raised money for the Nancy Hunter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Along with the movies, the DAR ladies typed up their families' Patriot stories, and they were published in two issues for the Southeast Missourian. This blog continues those family histories, courtesy of such prominent Cape Girardeau women as Amy Kimmel, Mrs. R.B. Oliver and Mrs. Louis Houck...

In the spring of 1924, the Nancy Hunter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution organized a benefit at the New Broadway Theater: A two-night showing of the motion picture "The Frontier Woman." It was billed as "a true drama of the Old Southwest." Along with that movie, patrons also got to view "Daddies," the screen version of a play by John Hobble, starring Mae Murray and Harry Myers...

This ad, published in The Southeast Missourian on March 6, 1919, caught my eye recently. And it made me wonder if it could have been the first gasoline filling station in Cape Girardeau...

For just the second time in the short life of Harris Field, the World War II Army Air Forces flight training facility that is now Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, the gates of the base were thrown open to the public in February 1944. The first open house was on June 27, 1943, roughly six months after training began at the field. Around 2,000 people toured the base...

In researching last week's blog about the former I. Ben Miller ice cream factory on South Spanish Street, I came across another interesting story that told of the use of nitroglycerine to dig a water well in the rear of the plant. I thought I would share it with you...

I. Ben Miller, Cape Girardeau's original ice cream man, moved his ice cream and candy manufacturing plant from a Water Street building to the above structure on South Spanish Street in the fall of 1916. Construction on the building began in late February or early March of that year, and the contractor was S. Boutin. The factory stood just south of Klostermann's Bee Store, now known as the Alliance Building...

Over the years, I've often heard people refer to an early Southeast Missourian sports writer named Emmett Kelly, who started his career with this newspaper in 1928 and was still pounding out stories for the Missourian when he died in 1961. But it wasn't until recently that I made the connection between Emmett and Judge Frank Kelly...

This photograph of Oakenwold was made prior to the devastating fire that gutted the residence in the spring of 1929. (Southeast Missourian archive)...

A round barn was just one of the numerous structures built in or near Cape Girardeau in 1919. This photograph was taken in March 1975 and shows the deteriorated condition of the barn. It was finally razed about 1982. (Southeast Missourian archive)...

In early December 1918, the Spanish influenza epidemic, which had been waning in Cape Girardeau, came back in full force. Mayor H.H. Haas wanted to impose strict restrictions on gatherings in the city, in an effort to control the spread of the disease, but he was fought by both businessmen and school officials. A previous ban had proven costly to the commercial life of the city and had kept children from their studies...

When my siblings and I were youngsters, our family would load into our van most weekends and visit relatives in Scott County. Many trips were to New Hamburg and Commerce and, of course, Scott City, where my grandmother, Hulda, lived. Along with Grandma's beautiful iris garden, displaying every color imaginable, and the taste of the apples that grew on that old tree by her back door, one of the strongest memories I have of those visits is my dad sitting quietly in her small kitchen, reading the newspapers she always saved for him. ...

Vice President George Bush answered a few questions from the news media upon his arrival at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport on the morning of Oct. 22, 1984. Gov. Kit Bond is standing at Bush's right. Behind him, from left to right, are Mary Kasten, Kevin Phillips and U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson. (Southeast Missourian archive)...

The one-story white building in the center of this photograph is the Stucco restaurant, built by Fred A. "Daddy" Kain in the fall of 1916. It stood on the site of the Riverview Hotel on the northwest corner of Broadway and Water Street. (Southeast Missourian archive)...

Twenty-five years ago, on Nov. 26, 1993, Cape Girardeau County lost a historic structure: Hobbs Chapel United Methodist Church. The morning after Thanksgiving Day, volunteer firefighters were called to the 101-year-old structure, only to find it "fully engulfed in smoke and flames." Little could be done, but watch the chapel and its companion 12-year-old education center surrender to the flames...

This is a line drawing of the original St. Vincent's Catholic Church, built in Cape Girardeau in 1838. The stone edifice was destroyed by a tornado in 1850. (Southeast Missourian archive)...

Published Dec. 30, 1942, pg. 1 The above photo, made recently, shows the first sections of the big War Emergency Pipe Line, which will carry oil from Texas to Illinois, being laid across the Mississippi River south of Cape Girardeau. The photo was made from the pipe-laying barge, looking towards the Missouri shore. ...