From the Morgue
The Southeast Missourian's resident historian Sharon K. Sanders blogs about interesting pieces of local history pulled from the newspaper's morgue -- the place where our old editions are kept.
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Cape Girardeau christens its namesake
Posted Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at 12:00 AMThe first steamboat the Eagle Packet Co. of St. Louis named for Cape Girardeau started its life as the War Eagle. It was built in 1899 by the company, owned by the Leyhe family, expressly to serve the Cape Girardeau and Commerce trade. It had operated only a year, however, when bad luck struck. The boat caught fire at the St. Louis wharf and its upper decks were burned off... -
The humanist philosophy of Lester Mondale
Posted Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 12:00 AM1Four years before his more famous half-brother became vice president of the United States in the Jimmy Carter administration, Lester Mondale left his Madison County log home to visit Cape Girardeau. Here, he spoke at the 1973 Humanities Forum at Southeast Missouri State University... -
Cape Osteopathic Hospital opens its doors
Posted Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at 12:00 AMWhen considering the history of medicine in Cape Girardeau, the founding of Saint Francis Medical Center in 1875 and Southeast Hospital (now Mercy Hospital Southeast) in 1928 come to mind. A third hospital opened its doors in Cape Girardeau in 1949, but it is hardly ever talked about: Cape Osteopathic Hospital. It operated in the former residence of John L. Miller at the southwest corner of Spanish and Merriwether streets for 20 years... -
8 killed and a million dollars damage done in 1924 tornado
Posted Tuesday, February 27, 2024, at 12:00 AM1The Cape Girardeau tornadoes of 1850 and 1949 in Cape Girardeau, as well as those in Jackson in 1923 and 2003, are well remembered by local residents. Anniversary stories and photographs have served to help us preserve those terrible events... -
Jackson's militant priest, county recorder at odds over marriage licenses
Posted Tuesday, February 20, 2024, at 12:00 AMRev. Michael D. Collins, circa 1914 (Google Books; The Lyceum Magazine, Vol. 24) The Rev. Michael D. Collins, pastor of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Jackson, didn't see eye-to-eye with Cape Girardeau County Recorder of Deeds G.M. Siemers about Missouri's marriage licenses... -
Streaking fad comes to Cape
Posted Tuesday, February 13, 2024, at 12:00 AM2Streaking — that fad where participants shed their clothes and their inhibitions and run naked through sporting events or other public venues — has been around a long time. But it dashed into Cape Girardeau 50 years ago, turning lots of heads as college students here followed the examples of their brethren on campuses around the nation... -
Recalling the start of MEW
Posted Tuesday, February 6, 2024, at 12:00 AMFew files in the Southeast Missourian's library are thicker than the one containing the clippings concerning Missouri Electric Works (MEW) of Cape Girardeau. I daresay, it's thicker than the one for the late Rush H. Limbaugh III. MEW gained notoriety in the late 1980s, when the company's facility at 824 S. ... -
A few more items from the 1923 end-of-the-year edition
Posted Tuesday, January 30, 2024, at 12:00 AM1In my previous two blogs, I brought you a history of Trinity Lutheran Church and a look at articles that predicted what would happen in Cape Girardeau in 1924. All are from the Dec. 31, 1923, end-of-the-year edition of the Southeast Missourian... -
Predictions for 1924 in the year-end edition
Posted Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at 12:00 AMLast week's blog mentioned the 1923 year-end edition, published, appropriately enough, on Dec. 31, 1923. Not only did it review accomplishments attained in Cape Girardeau during that year, but several articles predicted what would happen the following year... or maybe the year after that... -
Year-end edition provides history of Trinity Lutheran
Posted Tuesday, January 16, 2024, at 12:00 AMIn years past, the Southeast Missourian routinely published a large, year-end edition. It reviewed the accomplishments of the year ending and predicted what would happen in the coming 12 months. 1923 was one of the years the newspaper published such an edition. ... -
Jackson Masons build a new temple
Posted Tuesday, January 9, 2024, at 12:00 AMWorkers clean up the debris left after a tornado struck Jackson March 11, 1923. (Southeast Missourian archive)... -
Mules on ice and the winter of 1923-24
Posted Tuesday, January 2, 2024, at 12:00 AM1The winter of 1917-18 is still remembered as one of the worst in Cape Girardeau history. Along with a blizzard and a total of 35.7 inches of snow, it's the winter ice on the Mississippi River crushed four Eagle Packet Co. steamboats... -
Egg hatchery a 'mammoth' undertaking
Posted Tuesday, December 26, 2023, at 12:00 AM1G.D. Fronabarger likely photographed these young chicks at the Standard Hatchery on Bend Road in 1949. (Southeast Missourian archive)... -
Winifred Johnson honored
Posted Tuesday, December 19, 2023, at 12:00 AMWinifred Johnson must have been a strong, independent woman. Born in Ohio in 1864, she was hired as a natural science/biology teacher at the Third District Normal School in Cape Girardeau in 1890, having taught from 1884-1889 in Ohio and West Virginia. She taught here 42 years. In addition, Johnson "traveled extensively through all parts of the United States, Europe and Africa" and was considered one of the highest authorities on history in Missouri... -
Teachers College history teacher travels to Egypt
Posted Tuesday, December 12, 2023, at 12:00 AM1In the early 1920s the world went nuts about Tutankhamen. The young pharaoh's tomb was found in February 1922, sparking worldwide interest in ancient Egypt and the efforts being made to unearth King Tut. There's no evidence to back my theory that the discovery of the tomb influenced a Teachers College teacher to spend five months in 1923 studying at the University of Cairo in Egypt, but that's exactly what history instructor Winifred Johnson did. ... -
Balloon parade ushers in Christmas season
Posted Tuesday, December 5, 2023, at 12:00 AMThe old boy himself, Santa Claus, arrives in front of The Missourian Building while leading the giant Jean Gros balloon figures in the Christmas parade Thursday, Dec. 9, 1948. Thousands of youngsters along the two-mile parade route screamed with delight as the colorful figures were drawn along by high school boys dressed in clown suits. (Southeast Missourian archive)... -
Conclusion to Cape County's school districts consolidation
Posted Tuesday, November 28, 2023, at 12:00 AM4The student body of Marquette School poses with its teachers, circa 1950s. (G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)... -
Oak Ridge defends its high school
Posted Tuesday, November 21, 2023, at 12:00 AMLast week's blog dealt with a rural school consolidation plan put forward by the Cape Girardeau County Board of Education in 1948. It essentially combined around 80 school districts into three large districts. Each of those would be served by a single high school in the towns of Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Delta... -
School consolidation talk in Cape County
Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 12:00 AMA teacher and her charges gather near Sawyer School in this undated photograph, courtesy of the late Katherine Cochran. The school was located north of Fruitland. (Southeast Missourian archive)... -
Honor guard pays tribute to fallen veterans
Posted Tuesday, November 7, 2023, at 12:00 AMOne of the most moving parts of my father's funeral in 2011 was the graveside service that included military honors and the playing of "Taps." The same can be said of my uncle Jim Sanders' memorial service at the Sanders family cemetery a decade earlier. ...
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