Out of the past 8/11/09

A closed-door meeting yesterday between proponents and opponents of a Southeast Missouri State University campus site failed to resolve the controversy surrounding the Cape Girardeau multipurpose building; a spokesman for a citizens committee says his group still wants an election held this November on the building site.

The new Venture store being constructed at West Park Mall remains on target for an early October opening.

50 years ago: Aug. 11, 1959

In an effort to reduce the number of collisions, Cape Girardeau city workers are painting "stop" signs in large white letters on the pavement at intersections along William Street, where stops were recently changed to make William a through street.

A force of nine police officers was called to the Arena Building last night, where the crowd of spectators got out of hand during the weekly wrestling matches.

75 years ago: Aug. 11, 1934

Street car service in Cape Girardeau ended last night, following a formal order made by the Public Service Commission authorizing the Cape Girardeau-Jackson Interurban Railway Co. to abandon and dismantle its property; the last car was driven into the North Main Street barns at 9:30 p.m..

Barney Meyer, 40, engineer and fireman at the McGovern Brewery in Old Appleton, is painfully injured when a boiler tube blows out as he is firing the boiler and scalds him from his knees down.

100 years ago: Aug. 11, 1909

James Adkins, one of the engineers for the Kettle River Quarries Co., which has the contract for paving Main Street with wood blocks, arrived in Cape Girardeau last night and attempts to start excavating in the morning; however, gutter work and some sewer connections haven't been completed; paving work will be delayed for a few days.

The biggest shipment of tobacco ever to leave Cape Girardeau was taken yesterday by steamer to a wholesale house in St. Louis; the Roth Tobacco Co. sold 65 pounds of its product to one concern, and the more than 500 boxes made a big stack on the levee; Roth also shipped out nearly 2,000 pounds in small orders to merchants in various towns.

-- Sharon K. Sanders