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History in the News
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Newcomers bring decaying Kentucky distillery back to life (9/20/18)MILLVILLE, Ky. -- The whiskey quit flowing decades ago from a landmark Kentucky distillery housed in a picturesque castle. Nearly a half-century of neglect reduced the one-time tourist draw to a decaying relic. Now, two newcomers to the whiskey business have resurrected the Old Taylor distillery and renamed it. And along with bourbon and rye, they hope once again to generate tourism... -
Work on splash pad, new restroom in early stages at Capaha Park (9/19/18)Excavation is underway in Capaha Park as the city’s plans to install a splash pad and other amenities moves forward. Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation director Julia Jones said in addition to the splash pad, the city will install a restroom facility to replace portable toilets and renovate the existing nearby pavilion... -
Rare Kennedy photos go inside America's most famous family (9/18/18)BOSTON -- It's an expansive and quintessentially Kennedy photo album. Here's a young, shirtless JFK, baring six-pack abs and smirking poolside while striking an un-presidential pose. There's Rose Fitzgerald not-yet-Kennedy in her Sunday best, long before she'd become the family matriarch and trade girlhood grins for imperious stares. ... -
Archaeologists discover ancient sphinx in Egypt (9/17/18)CAIRO -- Egypt officials say archaeologists have discovered a statue of a lion's body and a human head in the southern city of Aswan. The Antiquities Ministry said Sunday the sphinx made of sandstone was found in the Temple of Kom Ombo during work to protect the site from groundwater... -
Navy monument to be created for National Cemetery (9/15/18)A project to build a monument to honor United States Navy veterans, which is several years in the making, is moving along to the next phase. The idea for a project to design and build a monument honoring Southeast Kansas Navy veterans, which would eventually be placed at the Fort Scott National Cemetery, came about in 2008 with members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1165 honor guard, according to Daryl Roller, a U.S. Navy veteran formerly of Fort Scott... -
Local history: Spanish influenza hits Pemiscot County (9/15/18)The Spanish influenza pandemic hit the United States hard in the fall of 1918. The pandemic caused cities to shut down and shops to close. The city leaders in Cape Girardeau ordered public gatherings at churches, schools, conventions and theaters to cease from Oct. ... -
'Castle house' on Kingsway demolished (9/12/18)A house with a distinctive tower and stone-and-brick facing, which stood since 1935 in Cape Girardeau, was demolished Tuesday to make way for a green space on the lawn at St. Andrew Lutheran Church. According to Southeast Missourian archives, the house was built in 1935, with an address given simply as Highway 61... -
A Case for Historical Preservation (9/10/18)I’m a retired professor living in a historical home in an old part of Cape. I could easily move to a new house, but I strongly prefer living in this old place. My house was built in 1893, so it’s “late Victorian.” I know a lot about the early years of the house thanks to Shelly (Goss) Phillips, who researched its history... -
Steamboat travel was dangerous business in the 1800s (9/8/18)Steamboats played a crucial role in the growth of Cape Girardeau in the 19th Century, but traveling by steamboat was a risky proposition indeed. Boiler explosions, collisions, fires, sandbars and submerged logs all conspired to sink vessels, often with shockingly large casualty lists... -
World War II vet receives medals 73 years later (9/8/18)World War II veteran Cloyd Cook returned to Poplar Bluff in 1945 after being honorably discharged from the U.S. Army, but in the haste to bring soldiers home, he never received the medals he earned. After waiting 73 years, the veteran was finally presented Friday with the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with four bronze service stars, the World War II Victory Medal and the Honorable Service Lapel Button. ... -
Fort D supporters seek National Register status for historic site (9/6/18)Cape Girardeau's only remaining, Civil War-era earthworks fort could be added to the National Register of Historic Places if local preservation advocates for the historic site have their way. The city's historic preservation commission has endorsed the effort... -
Cape council approves measures to improve transportation, agrees to accept black-soldier sculpture (9/5/18)The Cape Girardeau City Council voted Tuesday for two measures to improve transportation. Council members, without comment, also approved a resolution to accept a bronze sculpture of a black, Civil War-era Union soldier upon its purchase and installation in Ivers Square... -
Brazilians see metaphor for their struggles in museum fire (9/4/18)RIO DE JANEIRO -- Firefighters dug through the burned-out hulk of Brazil's National Museum on Monday, a day after flames gutted the building, as the country mourned the irreplaceable treasures lost and pointed fingers over who was to blame. The museum held Latin America's largest collection of historical artifacts, and the damage was feared to be catastrophic. ... -
From penny press to Snapchat: Parents fret through the ages (9/4/18)NEW YORK -- When Stephen Dennis was raising his two sons in the 1980s, he never heard the phrase "screen time," nor did he worry much about the hours his children spent with technology. When he bought an Apple II Plus computer, he considered it an investment in their future and encouraged them to use it as much as possible... -
Power Rangers franchise celebrates 25 years this week (8/31/18)Power Rangers originally morphed its way into the lives of children in the early 1990's and on Tuesday the superhero franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary. According to a recent GQ article, Power Rangers originator Haim Saban is the main reason why the long-running Power Rangers television series is "uniquely American."... -
Columbus statue in St. Louis park is being scrutinized (8/31/18)ST. LOUIS -- A Christopher Columbus statue in a St. Louis park is being called into question about a year after a Confederate monument was removed from another park in the city. A commission is being formed to review whether the 130-year-old statue belongs in Tower Grove Park, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The panel will include historians, art experts, and representatives of Italian-Americans and Native Americans in St. Louis, said David Lauber, the park's director of development... -
Neil Simon leaves legacy of soft humor (8/28/18)NEW YORK -- When master playwright Neil Simon accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2006, he was visibly nervous. But his gentle humor was evident. "It took me six years to write my first play," he said, recalling he found the title for "Come Blow Your Horn" from one of his daughter's nursery rhyme books. He said it turned out to be "a so-so play" turned into "a so-so movie" with Frank Sinatra...
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St. Mary marks 150th anniversary (8/27/18)At the corner of William Street and Sprigg streets, hundreds gathered Sunday at St. Mary Cathedral to celebrate the parish's 150th anniversary with music, food, games and community. For the last century and a half, St. Mary's has stood at the same street corner with the same building... -
Photographer Fred Lynch retires after 43 years (8/25/18)The shutter closed on the 43-year career of Southeast Missourian photojournalist Fred Lynch on Friday, but not without a proper send-off during a retirement reception held in his honor Friday at the Rust Center for Media located at 325 Broadway. Lynch photographed local natural disasters, including the Blizzard of 1979, the Great Flood of the Mississippi in 1993, the Jackson tornado of 2003 and multiple ice storms... -
Carter County residents want damaged courthouse preserved (8/23/18)VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Carter County commissioners promised Monday to pause discussion of construction of a new courthouse while other options are considered for preservation of the historic stone structure that has served as the county seat for 82 years...
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Confederate monuments to stay in NC (8/23/18)RALEIGH, N.C. -- Three Confederate monuments will remain on the North Carolina Capitol grounds, but with newly added context about slavery and civil rights. That's the decision from a state historical panel, two days after protesters tore down another rebel statue at the state's flagship university... -
River Heritage Museum eyes vacant annex for new home (8/22/18)The now-vacant Common Pleas Courthouse Annex could become the new home of the Cape River Heritage Museum if the organization’s board of directors has its way. “We think it would be wonderful,” museum director Margaret Ford said Tuesday. She said the board has toured the annex... -
1959 racial slaying of Mississippi teen could get fresh look (8/22/18)CORINTH, Miss. -- Eberlene King remembers her 15-year-old brother as he lay dying, after white teenagers cruised through their black neighborhood in a pickup on Halloween night 1959 and shot him in the face. "His eyes ... were hanging out," King recalled. "His head was full of pellets."...
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Project supporters seek to erect black Union soldier statue in Ivers Square next June (8/21/18)A bronze statue of a black, Civil War-era, Union soldier could be erected by next June in Cape Girardeau’s Ivers Square, project proponents told the city council Monday. Denise Lincoln, who has researched the history of Cape Girardeau’s former slaves who joined the Union Army, wants the statue erected in their honor... -
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan dies at age 80 (8/20/18)ACCRA, Ghana -- Kofi Annan, a charismatic global diplomat and the first black African to become United Nations secretary-general who led the world body through one of its most turbulent periods, died early Saturday at age 80. Tributes flowed in from around the world after his foundation announced his death in the Swiss capital, Bern, after a short and unspecified illness. The statement remembered the Nobel Peace Prize winner as "radiating genuine kindness, warmth and brilliance in all he did."... -
Memorial will be dedicated for POWs killed at sea in WWII (8/16/18)HONOLULU -- U.S. Army Air Corps veteran Daniel Crowley endured more than three years of slave labor while being held prisoner by Japan during World War II. This week, the 96-year-old is in Hawaii to participate in a dedication honoring about 400 Allied prisoners killed when a Japanese ship similar to a vessel he was once on was sunk by U.S. ...
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Digging up Franco: Spain divided over dictator's legacy (8/6/18)MADRID -- Even in his grave, the 20th-century dictator who ruled Spain with an iron fist keeps dividing the country. Spain's new center-left government says removing the embalmed body of Gen. Francisco Franco from a glorifying mausoleum will be the first among many symbolic moves aimed at coming to terms with the country's troubled history... -
Gold lunar module replica stolen from Armstrong museum still lost (8/3/18)CLEVELAND -- A solid-gold replica of the Apollo 11 lunar module stolen a year ago from an Ohio museum honoring the late astronaut Neil Armstrong has yet to be recovered. Five-inch-tall replicas created by Cartier were given to Armstrong and fellow astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins in Paris during a goodwill tour following their historic moon mission in 1969...
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Old McKendree Chapel (7/31/18)In June, the City of Jackson Board of Aldermen designated Jackson's first local historic landmark. McKendree Chapel Memorial Foundation applied to have Old McKendree Chapel and Cemetery designated as the first landmark under the city's Historic Preservation Ordinance. The application was reviewed and recommended by the Historic Preservation Commission, a five-member citizen board established in 2017...
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Commmission recommends TIF project to Cape City Council; plan would redevelop Esquire Theater (7/20/18)The Cape Girardeau City Council should approve tax-increment financing (TIF) to redevelop the vacant Esquire Theater for use as a concert and event venue, the city's TIF Commission concluded Thursday. The 11 commissioners unanimously approved the recommendation, setting the stage for the council to take final action on the proposal...
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John A. Stormer, popular right-wing author, dies at 90 (7/17/18)NEW YORK -- John A. Stormer, a religious leader and right-wing activist whose self-published Cold War tract "None Dare Call It Treason" became a grassroots sensation in 1964 and a rallying point for the emerging conservative movement, has died at 90...
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Relentless flood swamped towns, turned roads into lakes 25 years ago this summer (7/16/18)Floodwaters swamped towns along the Mississippi River and its tributaries and turned roads and fields into lakes 25 years ago this summer. It was a marathon of a flood, which first surfaced in March 1993 and stayed around all summer. Its endurance taxed city, county, state and federal resources and volunteer efforts to battle it... -
Chronology of the Great Flood of 1993 (7/16/18)March 9: Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau forecast to crest later in the week at 36 feet, 4 feet above flood stage. March 19: The National Weather Service says the potential for spring flooding on the Mississippi River as far south as Caruthersville, Missouri, is minor to moderate... -
Author of Emmett Till book gave FBI interview recordings (7/14/18)BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Weeks after he published a book about the brutal slaying of Emmett Till, a North Carolina author received a call from FBI agents asking about his interview with a key witness who acknowledged lying about her interactions with the black teen...
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'New information' reopens Till case (7/13/18)BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A year after a book on the brutal slaying of black teen Emmett Till revealed a key figure in the case acknowledged lying, the federal government has reopened its investigation of the 1955 crime that helped build momentum for the civil rights movement...
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Thai cave rescue stirs memories of 1967 search for missing boys (7/12/18)HANNIBAL, Mo. -- The rescue missions -- more than 50 years apart -- parallel one another, demonstrating the dangers of amateur caving and the painstaking process to rescue those trapped. Much of the world rejoiced Monday with the news divers had rescued the final four of 12 young soccer players and their coach from a flooded cave in northern Thailand...
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Hunter, star of 'Damn Yankees' movie, dies age 86 (7/10/18)Tab Hunter, the blond actor and singer who was a heartthrob for millions of teenagers in the 1950s with such films as "Battle Cry" and "Damn Yankees" and received new attention decades later when he revealed he was gay, has died. He was 86. Producer and spouse Allan Glaser said Hunter died Sunday of a blood clot in his leg leading to cardiac arrest. Glaser called the death "sudden and unexpected."...
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Museum opens as part of $380M Gateway Arch project (7/5/18)ST. LOUIS -- The revitalized Gateway Arch National Park was dedicated Tuesday, the culmination of a $380 million public-private partnership Missouri political leaders see as a template for the future of the national park system. Several hundred people stood in steamy heat for a ceremony in the shadow of the 630-foot-tall monument to westward expansion sitting along the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis... -
Culture & Entertainment Notebook: Harmon Field Public Swimming Pool keeps making a splash (6/29/18)Patented in 1926 by architect and engineer Wesley Bintz, the above-ground Harmon Field Public Swimming Pool in Chaffee, Missouri, has been attracting visitors with its aroma of summertime mixed with choline for nearly 80 years. Groundbreaking for the aged, bright blue and white, 60-feet by 90-feet brick-and-concrete pool at 11988 State Highway 77 took place Oct. ... -
Museum denounces change of name for literary award (6/28/18)MANSFIELD, Mo. -- A Missouri museum dedicated to Laura Ingalls Wilder has expressed disappointment at a recent decision to remove the author's name from a national literary award. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Home Association in Mansfield released a recent statement disagreeing with the action to rename the major children's book award, the Springfield News-Leader reported. Wilder was best known for her "Little House on the Prairie" series...
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Prince William visits Holocaust memorial (6/27/18)JERUSALEM -- Prince William began his visit to Israel on Tuesday with an emotional tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, a soccer game with Arab and Jewish youth and an introduction to Tel Aviv's vibrant start-up scene. The prince is the first member of the British royal family to pay an official visit to Israel. Though the trip is being billed as non-political, the prince is meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and visiting sites at the heart of the century-old conflict...
