BUSINESS LINE: TIME LINE REFLECTS GROWING, CHANGING BUSINESS SCENE

1940-1949

1940 Rialto Theater opened on Broadway.

1940 Park-N-Eat refreshment stand, circular building on West Broadway, opened.

1941 Sears opened order office.

1941 A&P Store opened on Spanish Street.

1941 Albert and Audrey Baker established Cape Paint & Glass.

1941 Erlbacher radio tower, 185 feet, finished.

1941 Cape Transit Corp. formed.

1942 Bohnsack Store closed; Buckner-Ragsdale took over stock of goods.

1942 Dorsa dress factory began operating.

1942 Gateley's Store moved from 313 Broadway to 19 Main Street.

1943 Cape Girardeau News suspended publication "for the duration of the war" by James A. Jackson.

1943 Broadway, Park and Orpheum theaters purchased by Fox Corp. from S.E. Brady.

1944 Monroe Glass Co. opened by John R. and Esther M. Monroe at 110 Merriwether.

1944 Mr. and Mrs. A.C. Hill took charge of Eat Shop in old Opera House.

1944 Dormeyer Drug Store on West Broadway purchased by Floyd W. Hobbs.

1944 Esicar Meat Market moved from 411 to 313 Broadway.

1944 Master Baking Co. of Mt. Vernon, Ill., took over management of Bauer Bakery.

1944 Joe Carter of Poplar Bluff bought R.T. Quinn drug store on Broadway.

1944 R.C. Garner Sr. started Oz Ark Gas Equipment & Supply.

1945 Hirsch-Tinsley opened by E.O. Hirsch and Kermit Tinsley.

1945 Schonhoff family purchased former I. Ben Miller dairy.

1945 Parham's Tire and Home Supply Store opened on Broadway.

1945 Franklin Store, chain, opened on Main Street.

1945 Norval A. Randol bought Square Deal Variety Store and building on Broadway from Charles H. Shively, who had operated it for 29 years.

1945 Steimle Business College purchased Cape Girardeau Business College, which Mrs. Emma Latimer conducted 26 years.

1945 Cape Girardeau Supply Co. opened.

1945 Davis Electric Co. opened.

1945 C.M. Foeste Nursery started.

1945 Hutson Furniture started.

1945 Margraf Jewelry opened by Henry A. and Virginia Lee Margraff in Idan Ha Hotel building, 405 Broadway.

1946 Tipton's Cleaners purchased by Thomas McGee.

1946 Bill Schneider began selling first Bolen lawn and garden equipment in Cape Girardeau.

1946 Ground broken for new Esquire Theater on West Broadway.

1946 Day Transfer moved to new building on West Independence.

1946 Thomas O. McGee of Danville, Ill., bought Rigdon Laundry; Rigdon had bought Cape Steam Laundry in 1915.

1946 J.C. Cole, after 27 years, sold North Main Street grocery store.

1946 T.W. Ade bought L.C. Brady grocery on North Louisiana.

1946 William Shivelbine sold Playdium bowling alley on Themis to Clarence and David Hanebrink.

1946 Westmount Garden gas station, restaurant and store opened.

1946 Schneider harvester equipment building, Highway 61 at Bloomfield Road, formally opened.

1946 James V. Pool sold Model Hotel, and barber shop, both on Broadway.

1946 Singer Sewing Machine Co. opened in new location, Main and Broadway.

1946 Central State Foundry Co., 500 Aquamsi, went into operation.

1946 Missourian Retail Store opened.

1946 Missouri Propane Gas Co. started on Highway 61.

1946 McDonald's Concrete Ready-Mix started with McCarty Bros. and Clyde McDonald as owners.

1947 Roth Tobacco Co. suspended operation.

1947 R.F. "Peg" Meyer and William A. Shivelbine purchased St. Louis Band Instrument Co. music store.

1947 Esquire Theater formally opened.

1947 R. Lowenbaum dress factory began operating, manufacturing Minx Model line.

1947 Geringer Radio Service moved into new building on Cousin.

1947 Oscar Becker sold Last Chance establishment, 930 Broadway; had been connected with former saloon since 1900. On entering Cape Girardeau from west, sign on building read "First Chance" and on leaving sign read "Last Chance."

1947 Kathleen's Beauty School and Shop opened on South Sprigg.

1947 Wagon Wheel, beer and lunch room in old Opera House, renamed Chuck Wagon.

1947 Flentge Appliances opened at 14 N. Sprigg.

1947 Jim Wilson Co. established.

1948 Joe M. Carter sold drug store on Broadway to Felix R. Brandon.

1948 T.W. Ade sold grocery to Clarence Koch.

1948 Whiteline Laundry, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Albert Cottle opened.

1948 Charles Lawson, blind, opened cigar stand in post office lobby.

1948 Kroger supermarket opened in new building on Broadway.

1948 Salvation Army purchased old Park Theater building.

1948 Auto Tire & Parts purchased by Pat Tlapek.

1948 Craftsman Office Supply established.

1949 L.J. "Freck" and William L. Shivelbine purchased music store owned by R.F. "Peg" Meyer and late William A. Shivelbine, renaming it Shivelbine's Music Store.

1949 Younghouse Whole Sale Distributing was established, founders having purchased Perkinson Candy Company.

1949 Clarence Klaproth established Cape Drive-In Cleaners.

1949 Prescription Shop opened on West Broadway; original shop was established 15 years before.

1949 Medical Arts Building was put into use.

1949 Cape Drive-In Theater opened near airport.

1949 Esquire Theater was taken over by Dubinsky Bros. Theaters, Inc.

1949 Airline Cafe reopened after being demolished by tornado earlier in year.

1949 Cape-Kil opened at 33 N. Frederick.

1949 Ford-Young Funeral Home opened by Walter H. Ford and Ross Young.

Late 1940s Riverside Ice and Fuel Co. moved from North Main to old brewery site on Morgan Oak.