My family has deep ties to Scott County, Missouri, specifically to Commerce on Dad's side and New Hamburg and Oran on Mom's. So when the story below popped up as I was doing research, I took a special interest in it. On June 5, 1971, the Southeast Missourian began publishing a weekly series of articles that featured area towns and villages. Stephen Robertson was responsible for both the photos and the stories...

As Judge Marybelle Mueller neared her retirement in October 1994, she sat down with Southeast Missourian managing editor Joni Adams to discuss her career. Adams transformed the interview into one of her "Profiles," published Oct. 18, 1994...

Bartholomew Cousin, secretary of the Cape Girardeau's founder, Louis Lorimier, may be one of the town's greatest mystery men. From his long-missing will, the contents of which were quoted by earlier historians, we know he was born March 18, 1767, three leagues west of Cherbourg, France, to Marin Cousin, a farmer, and Magdaline Pienot, his wife...

Capital View of Cape Girardeau. Color lithograph by Charles Robyn and Co., St. Louis, ca. 1858. (Wikipedia commons)...

Articles about politics in the early Southeast Missourian newspapers frequently referred to "stirrings of the political pot." It meant that people were beginning to think about who would make good candidates for office, as well as speculation about who would throw his hat into the political ring...

Last week's blog focused on a 1914 "Baby Show" held in Cape Girardeau to place orphans from the Missouri Home Finding Society in St. Louis with local families. From the articles published at the time, the show was a great success...

Over the years, I've been asked repeatedly about what happened to orphans throughout Cape Girardeau's history. Parent-less children often were sent to live with relatives. This happened to my great-grandmother, Katherine Bullinger Stehr. Her mother died shortly after Kate's birth, and her father passed on when the child was just 2 years old. ...

What do William H. Escue and White Mule have in common? Not a thing, except for articles about each that appeared in 1921 in consecutive editions of the Southeast Missourian. So, even though there's no real connection between the two, I found both articles interesting enough to share them in a blog...

In what may have been the first instance of jet planes landing at what is now Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, two P-80 jet-propelled Army aircraft landed at former Harris Field on May 24, 1946. The field at the time was being used by the government to sell off retired military airplanes. ...

One of the earliest views of Cape Girardeau is this line drawing, which came from a circa 1870 magazine. It shows Themis Street at the riverfront, with the Common Pleas Courthouse — devoid of its wings, portico and cupola — high on a hill in the background. (Southeast Missourian archive)...

John Sciortino (Elroy Kinder photo ~ Southeast Missourian archive) The section of Cape Girardeau known as Haarig -- the Good Hope Street area -- is historically thought of as being the German section of town...

Did you ever hear the story about the inebriated man who rode a borrowed horse up the south steps of Common Pleas Courthouse Park and then reversed himself and rode the nag down the east steps? I thought of that tale recently when I ran across a photo of some brawny college men pushing and pulling a 1908 Ford automobile up the front steps of Academic Hall in 1946. Here's the story, and I apologize that the image reproduced from microfilm isn't better...

Conversations with Dr. Frank Nickell, Cape Girardeau's unparalleled historian, tend to start with a single question and eventually meander through a variety of topics. What started as a discussion recently of the goings-on at the Kellerman Foundation, where Frank is the resident historian, drifted into a brainstorming session where suggestions for future foundation displays flew about the room like a shuttlecock in a high wind. ...

Published May 8, 1996, in the Southeast Missourian: Dr. Bill Atchley, interim president of Southeast Missouri State University, Tuesday explained what the letter E in May Greene means to him during May Greene Day at the May Greene Elementary School. (Don Shrubshell ~ Southeast Missourian archive)...

Here's another in the late Joni Adams' series "Profiles." Photographer Lou Peukert took several photos of Charlie Hutson, but only one was used with the article. I've interspersed several of the others in this blog...

If you lived in Cape Girardeau in the summer of 1989, chances are you remember the fire that destroyed Uncle Ralph's Furniture at the southwest corner of Spanish and Independence streets. A couple things stand out in my mind about that business and the conflagration that forced its removal from downtown Cape Girardeau to the west end...

Cape Girardeau's public school system dates back 154 years. Before that, youngsters received their educations at home or at subscription or parochial schools. This article, by Missourian columnist Emily Hughes, reveals that tax-supported education wasn't universally popular at the time of its inception...

The original clubhouse at the Cape Girardeau Country Club was opened the evening of July 29, 1921, with a formal reception and dance. The building was constructed by Cape Girardeau contractor Will Gerhardt on the highest point on the course. The two-story structure faced east, overlooking the Mississippi River. ...

In the early 1970s, the Southeast Missourian began publishing a feature series about area women. This one profiles the life Myrtle Branson Sheppard, a longtime area civic leader and educator. The articles were all published under the same title: "A woman's world."...

Published March 3, 1989, in the Southeast Missourian: Dr. James Goodrich: Dueling gentlemen had an exaggerated sense of personal honor. (Southeast Missourian archive)...