STRICTLY BUSINESS: AN ARCH COMMENT: BOOTHEEL'S BUILT FIRST

St. Louis is not the first area in Missouri to think about constructing an arch.

A highway arch which spans U.S. Highway 61 at the Arkansas-Missouri state line is not as large the giant arch in downtown St. Louis, but it was constructed a long time before its more famous counterpart.

The Bootheel arch, which still stands just south of Frenchman's Bayou, was one of two built when Highway 61 was first paved, in 1924.

The first arch was demolished in the late 1950s to allow widening of the road at that point.

Another arch was proposed in Southeast Missouri, at the entrance of Arena Park in Cape Girardeau during the early 1940s. That plan never materialized. An architect's drawing in December of 1940 depicted an arch and a tall tower, with the Arena Building in the background.

Construction of the Bootheel arches started in 1923, and were completed a year later.

Highway 61 at one point in history was known only as the North-South Road. The dirt road, which would become a "lobby of mud" when it rained, took travelers across the state line, from Southeast Missouri to Northwest Arkansas.

Carriages and motor vehicles spent a lot of time sliding on and off the roadway.

The North-South Road became a modern paved highway in 1924, and before Interstate 55, motorists used the narrow two-line highway to drive to the big city (Memphis), before eventually becoming U.S. Highway 61.

The existing arch still provides information for those using it.

Efforts area being made to have the arch designated as a national historic landmark.

The St. Louis Arch is the largest monument in the U.S., towering 630 feet above the St. Louis landing on the bank of the Mississippi River. The downtown monument, built at a cost of $13 million, was completed Oct. 28, 1965

That's a lot of peanuts

Logan's Roadhouse may or may not be coming to Cape Girardeau in the near future.

Jeanne Brock, a spokesperson for Logan's Roadhouse, headquartered at Nashville, Tenn., admits that Cape Girardeau has been "up and down" on the Logan list.

Logan's came to mind recently when we discovered that March is "National Peanut Month."

What do peanuts have to do with Logan's?

Just this.

Peanuts are served as a free "appetizers" in advance of Logan's main course, which includes a selection of popular American specialties including stakes, baby-back ribs and mesquite-grilled chicken, as well as salads, sandwiches and seafood.

Logan's serves 1,065,683 peanuts a day.

Logan's officials figured it all out based on 76 restaurants in a dozen states.

Brock said that last year, Logan's patrons cracked opened open some 2 million pounds of peanuts, which translates into about 390,039,804 individual peanuts. That figures out to approximately 1,065,683 peanuts a day.

"They keep guests happy," said Brock. Patrons crack open the peanuts and toss the shells on the floor, which helps them relax. "You can't do that at home."

To put Logan's customer peanut consumption in perspective, the 2 million pounds of peanuts would span roughly 9,233 miles if laid end-to-end in a straight line, four times. They could stretch across the length of the great Wall of China more than two times. The total would also add up to 12 peanuts consumed every second of every day for a full year.

That's a lot of peanuts!

incubators on the grow

Business incubation has come a long way in 20 years.

The program has grown from 12 incubators in 1980 to more than 900 in the United States today.

A look at some more numbers:

There are 2,000 to 3,000 incubators worldwide. They have created 20,000 new businesses and over 250,000 new jobs.

According to a recent study conducted for the National Business Incubation Association, 87 percent of incubator graduates are still in business.

A special conference, designed to increase awareness of current funding options for incubator business systems and the impact these types of business can have on regional growth will be the focus of a conference, to be held April 6 in Glenn Auditorium of Robert A. Dempster Hall on Southeast Missouri State University campus.

Incubator business systems, business partnerships and venture capital will be addressed at the conference, titled, "Creative Concepts for Sustainable Economic Growth."

A business incubator provides below-market rents, shared services and expenses, and technical assistance to new businesses.

The conference will open with registration and a continental breakfast at 7:45 a.m., followed by a welcome and introductions at 8:30 a.m.

Speakers include: Rick Prugh, director of the Innovation Center with the Missouri Enterprise Assistance Center in Rolla, Mo., who will make a presentation at 8:35 a.m. on funding and partnerships; Dr. Robert Calcaterra, chief executive officer of the Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise, will speak at 9:15 a.m. on the incubator business environment.

Matt Ashby with the community affairs division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis will make a video presentation at 10:45 a.m. on types and role of business partnerships. Closing out the conference will be Dr. David Gallaway, the U.S. prime minister of foreign finance and president and chief executive officer of International Investor Consultants Inc., speaking at 11:45 a.m. on the role of venture capitalists.

Jennifer Barnes, a Southeast Missouri State University student from Sikeston, Mo., is spearheading the conference as part of an independent study project. Barnes is pursuing a major in mass communications with an option in public relations. The conference is being planned in association with the Center for Economic and Business Research at the university.

Additional information and registration is available by calling the Small Business Development Center at (573) 986-6084.