BUSINESS LINE: TIME LINE REFLECTS GROWING, CHANGING BUSINESS SCENE

1950-1959

Early 1950s Nowell's Camera Shop opened by William and Juvernia Nowell.

1950 Radio station KGMO begins broadcasting as FM station, operating from home of Richard C. Brandt, 46 N. Henderson.

1950 Walker G. Childs supermarket, new building on West Broadway, opened.

1950 F.W. Woolworth's Store moved to new addition at Spanish and Independence.

1950 Biederman home-furnishing store on Main street opened.

1950 Fire destroyed Rust & Martin upholstery building on Broadway.

1950 Cape Central Airways opened.

1950 Art Fischer opened market.

1951 Cape Girardeau was assigned VHF Channel 12, and construction of television facilities began.

1951 Southeast Missouri Telephone Co. merged and became part of Southwestern Bell.

1951 Rust & Martin upholstery Shop opened in new store on Broadway.

1951 City Drug Store, new Walgreen agency at 46 N. Main, opened.

1951 Joe Stubbs sold his Lincoln-Mercury agency to H.F. Harris Jr.

1951 Cape Ready Mix Co. opened at 1205 Independence.

1952 Southwestern Bell Telephone system was converted to dial.

1952 Williamson Business Machines opened.

1952 Warehouse at Pollack Hide & Fur Co., Kingshighway, destroyed by fire.

1952 Donut Drive-In on West Independence opened.

1953 Bob's Shoe Service established at 113 Independence.

1953 Erlbacher Boat Construction Co. incorporated.

1953 Cape Electrical Supply was formed through acquisition of C & W Electrical Sales located on Independence by Jim Tlapek, Pat Tlapek, Elwood Rothaus, and N.H. Bruckerhoff.

1953 Walter Joe Ford joined Ford-Young Funeral Home.

1954 Lester Rhodes bought Orpheum Theater Building on Good Hope Street to convert it to business use.

1954 Rigdon Laundry equipment was sold to Tipton's Whiteline Laundry, Inc.

1954 Sunset Motel on Highway 61 North, sold to St. Louis investors.

1954 Charles Garber founded Garber's, men's store.

1954 Star Vue Drive-In Theater, large enough for 600 parked automobiles, opened.

1954 Pletcher & Haynes new Sinclair Service Station opened on Highway 61, west.

1954 Hobb's Grill No. 3 on Broadway, formerly Wilson's Cafeteria, opened.

1954 First National Bank purchased lot at corner of Broadway and Main as site for new building.

1954 Cape Manufacturing Co., North Main Street, handling Maxine equipment, incorporated.

1955 Harold "Butch" Bollinger founded Screen Arts, Inc.

1955 Petit N'Orleans opened in old Opera House.

1955 Maier's Auto Supply Store on Main Street closed.

1955 Construction of new First National Bank building began at northwest corner of Broadway and Main.

1955 Wulfers Bros. meat market, 902 Broadway, closed.

1955 Emmett Young bought electrical appliance store on Broadway from N.B. Mullen.

1955 First National Bank building on Main Street was sold to Charles A. Hood, Cape Girardeau contractor.

1955 Fire damaged Petit N'Orleans restaurant in old Opera House.

1955 Bamby Bakery Co. purchased by Bunny Bread.

1955 Cape Ready Mix Co. moved to 513 S. Kingshighway.

1955 Rhodes Oil Co. established.

1955 Jim Wilson Co. incorporated

1956 McDowell Motor Co. building, Sprigg and Morgan Oak, was extensively damaged by fire.

1956 Ueleke Hardware Co. moved from Broadway to 118 N. Main.

1956 Wards Big Star opened at West Broadway and Highway 61.

1956 First National Bank moved into new building at Main and Broadway.

1956 Horton Sales Co., 610 Independence, moved into new building.

1956 Cape Girardeau Federal Savings and Loan Association replaced Cape Girardeau Building and Loan Association.

1956 Flentge Appliances moved to 13 N. Sprigg.

1957 Kermit Tinsley bought out E.O. Hirsch in Hirsch-Tinsley operation, and it became Tinsley appliance.

1957 Niswonger Lumber Co. retail building destroyed by fire caused by lightning.

1957 Guth Bros. Block Co. began construction of building to house concrete block manufacturing plant.

1957 Edgewater Motors Inc., got franchise for new Edsel automobiles.

1957 Ford-Young Funeral Home changed name to Ford and Sons Funeral Home.

1957 Capaha Bottling Inc. began distributing Pepsi-Cola products.

1957 Hirsch Broadcasting Co. announced plans for nine-story office building at its present location, 324 Broadway.

1958 Excelsior Furniture Store, 533 Broadway, closed.

1958 Wayne Rust opened furniture store in old Bartels building, 430 Broadway.

1958 Erlbacher Materials, 1300 N. Water, filed for incorporation.

1958 Town Plaza Shopping Center incorporated.

1958 National Food Store opened at Sprigg and William.

1958 Incorporation papers filed for L.H. Landgraf Real Estate and Development Corp., 1459 Independence.

1959 Sunny Hill Garden Center opened on Good Hope.

1959 Bob's Shoe Service moved to 633 Broadway.

1959 Clyde Huff, Edward Downs, Sonny Young and Charles Hood opened Cape Bowling Lanes, 111 Minnesota.

1959 Strom's Metro News became Metro Book Store, having been acquired by Myron and Jacqueline Anderson.

1959 Riverside Lumber Co. opened.

1959 Miller & Fischer Grocery on Good Hope closed after 29 years of business.

1959 Former J.J. Newberry Store, 15 N. Main, renovated to house new Sterling Store.

1959 Sunny Hill Dairy Co. purchased operating equipment trucks and dairy plant equipment of Schonhoff Bros. Dairy; Schonhoffs processed and delivered milk here for nearly 50 years.

1959 Good Will Industries opened retail store at 115 Themis.

1959 F.W. Woolworth Co. and W.T. Grant Co. signed leases in Town Plaza Shopping Center.