Recalling the start of MEW

Few 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. Kingshighway was added to the Environmental Protection Agency's "Superfund" priority list for toxic waste cleanups. It seems polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in waste oil had contaminated the soil at the site, a result of the company's work repairing motors and transformers. PCBs, a suspected carcinogenic compound, had leaked into the soil from some of the 102 drums of waste oil.

Pollutants weren't in the minds of those who started the business in the mid 1940s. Its owners saw an opportunity to fill the need of offering repairs and maintenance to machinery used in the various local industries.

This article — published in the Feb. 19, 1949, Southeast Missourian — tells how Missouri Electric Works got its start.

D.W. Baugher, a tester, works on a heavy 150-horsepower industrial synchronous motor at Missouri Electric Works in Cape Girardeau. (Southeast Missourian archive)

ELECTRIC WORKS FILLING NEED IN GIRARDEAU

Cape Girardeau growth is to the accompaniment of increasing and varied types to industry. Much of it results in the output of products, but there are other industries which serve a definite need, such as the repair and maintenance of equipment essential to industry itself. One of the city's newer industries, the Missouri Electric Works, 400 S. Middle St., has just such a function.

In 1945 Tom Zimmerman came here from Illinois and set up the business in the old brewery building at Morgan Oak and Middle streets. The establishment was incorporated in 1946 with Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman and Mr. and Mrs. R.H. Giles as stockholders. The firm, now employing 20 persons, has filled a need here and elsewhere for repair of heavy and light industrial motors and transformers and other types of heavy industrial equipment.

Ralph Fuhrman works on three-phase motors used to operate crushers in lead mines. (Southeast Missourian archive)

Transformer rewinding and repair, repair of motor controls and switch gear, which formerly had to be done in St. Louis or other metropolitan centers equipped for such heavy duty work is now being done here, thus saving firms many precious hours by enabling them to get their units back into operation in the shortest possible time.

One instance was rewinding the armature of a 10-horsepower motor which operated the pump at the purifying plant at the Lutesville waterworks. The motor was restored to service within 24 hours after it became inoperative. Similar work was done for Illmo and many industrial plants in this area and outside the state have been able to get the quick time-saving service.

C.W. Quade, right, transformer supervisor, and Alfred Menz prepare to test a 300,000-volt transformer for a firm in Ste. Genevieve. These are the heavy substation power type transformers. (Southeast Missourian archive)

Large motors operating the pumps in the flood protection at Cairo, Illinois, have been repaired here. Emergency breakdowns for many industrial plants have been serviced.

The firm has purchased six acres of ground on Highway 61, located on a hill on the north side of the highway between the intersection of Bloomfield Road and the new Highway 74, where a plant will be erected to serve an expanding business. It is planned to build this plant within the next two years...

R.E. Chapman, one of the plant's repair experts, is engaged in transformer assembly, winding coils onto the core of distributor transformers. (Southeast Missourian archive)

There are a few discrepancies regarding the history of Missouri Electric Works. While this article states the business was incorporated by Mr. and Mrs. Tom Zimmerman and Mr. and Mrs. R.H. Giles in 1946, Giles' obituary in 1992 says he came to Cape Girardeau in 1947 and operated MEW until his death.

In December 1952, fire "practically destroyed" the building at Morgan Oak and Middle streets, along with its contents to the tune of an estimated $60,000. The company reopened early in 1953 at the former Roth Tobacco Co. building on South Frederick Street near Merriwether. But it, too, was destroyed by fire on Oct. 28, 1953. Some sources say MEW opened at its new facility on South Kingshighway that same year, while others say it was 1954.

An inspection of the Kingshighway site in October 1984 by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources led to the discovery of "some of the 102, 55-gallon drums" leaking transformer oil. The waste oil contained cancer-causing PCBs.

After numerous delays, cleanup of the MEW Superfund site began in the fall of 1999 by Williams Environmental Services of Stone Mountain, Georgia. An article published in the Missourian May 9, 2000, explained the cleanup process of 30,000 tons of contaminated soil: "As part of the cleanup, soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls greater than 10 parts per million is being excavated. The soil is processed through a screen or shredder to obtain materials less than two inches in size.

"The soil is put through a rotary dryer and heated to temperatures of from 850 to 950 degrees. Water is then added to the soil to hold down dust. The treated soil is then stockpiled and later used to backfill excavated areas at the site..."

The soil cleanup was completed in 2002 at a cost of $25 million.