GRAND TOWER: LITTLE S. ILLINOIS TOWN THAT TRIED

Ma Hale's Restaurant has closed.

It seems only yesterday that I was sitting down before a big wooden table laden with heaping bowls of fried chicken, home-grown green beans, sweet and mashed potatoes, homemade rolls and tea.

But it was really a number of years ago, and I hadn't thought of this Southern Illinois eating place in a long while.

For more than 50 years the restaurant was in an old but sturdy wooden boarding house that attracted hordes of visitors from far and near.

In years past hundreds of visitors flocked into the small Southern Illinois village of Grand Tower every weekend to partake of Ma Hale's down-home cuisine. Bus loads of tourists made the restaurant one of its stops.

Legend has it that the restaurant started by accident.

Mrs. Hale ran a boarding house, which, of course, included meals. A riverboat captain liked Mrs. Hale's cooking and returned with his entire crew. This led to its opening to the public.

Mrs. Hale died in 1971. A son kept the restaurant going for a while. Most recently, it has been continued through various owners, including Jerry Ellis, who operated the restaurant the past five years.

The restaurant was damaged during the Flood of 1993 and was closed for more than a month. It will not reopen to the public, although it will continue to provide meals for senior citizens until the end of the year.

After that, the structure will be remodeled into small rental apartments. This will bring the business full circle to its beginnings as a boarding house.

"That's the way Mrs. Hale started," said Don Knupp, a Grand Tower councilman who operates Grand Tower Grocery Store.

Grand Tower was founded during the early 1800s. As early as 1806, a ferry operated out of Grand Tower, providing transportation across the nearby Mississippi River into Missouri.

Grand Tower was a bustling town in the years following the Civil War. Railroading, cotton farming, coal mining and iron smelting were big industries, and at one time more than 3,500 people lived in the city. The population count is less than a fourth of that now.

Iron smelting was the biggest industry. The Mount Carbon Coal Co. of Murphysboro, Ill., built a railroad into Grand Tower, constructed two iron furnaces, and with ore from the Iron Mountain area of Missouri was operating as many as 60 coke ovens. A second company built a third furnace in the 1870s at the other end of town and put 700 men on the payroll at $1.75 each a day.

Estimates were that the new company plowed $5 million into the pig iron operation and was pulling out $18,000 a month in profits.

In 1876, Grand Tower iron won the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition Gold Medal. Two years later it was a winner of the top prize at the Iron and Steel Fair in Berlin, Germany.

Then disasters came.

The Mississippi River deposited a sand bar in front of the northern complex of ovens and one furnace, making loading almost impossible. Then, one furnace collapsed while it was full of molten iron and reconstruction ate deep into the company's profit margin.

Eastern competition came into play, and in 1892 the Grand Tower Mining, Manufacturing and Transportation Co. declared bankruptcy.

Grand Tower businessmen battled back. They tried a saddle and harness factory, a cigar plant, a brick factory, quarries, lime kilns. But they could never rebuild the economic base that disintegrated when Grand Tower's iron industry rusted away.

Ma Hale's cooking never won any World's Fair ribbons, probably only because she didn't enter that kind of competition. But hungry folks made her place a genuine landmark. It lasted longer than the business that built the town.

And now, that too is leaving. With the closing of the restaurant, Knupp's grocery is the only eatery left in town. "We have a deli at the store, and provide daily specials, including broasted chicken and catfish dinners on Friday," he said.

Many of the city's residents are farmers or river workers today, said Knupp. "But we still have a CIPS power plant here," he said.

Also visible in the town is the Texas Eastern pipeline that crosses the Mississippi River. "At one time the pipeline was the longest single span of pipeline in the U.S.," said Knupp.

Those new-but-now-familiar faces at the driveup to the Dixie Creme Donut Drive-In belong to Gene and Karen York.

The Yorks have owned the drive-up business for more than six years.

"We're Cape Girardeau natives, but we've been away from here a long time," said York. "We live in Bonne Terre."

A "baker's dozen" apologies go to Mr. and Mrs. York, who were misidentified in last week's business feature.

It's not likely that 1993 construction costs in Cape Girardeau will match the record year of 1992, when permits were issued for more than $47 million. But this year will go down as the second best construction year in the city in modern history.

With one month remaining, permits totaling $30.5 million have been issued. That figure includes $12.1 million for housing, the bulk of it -- 99.9 percent -- for one-family residences.

The second highest category is for new commercial buildings, where 23 permits have been issued for more than $9.5.million.

Wonderland Christmas Tree Farm is having an almost monthlong grand opening.

"We recently purchased the Seabaugh Christmas Tree Farm from Eugene and Hazel Seabaugh," said Richard Bradshaw of Jackson. "We opened the farm the day after Thanksgiving, and will run our grand opening through Christmas eve."

The Christmas tree farm is new to owners Richard and Pat Bradshaw. "It's a family operation," said Bradshaw, a representative for Prudential Financial Services in Cape Girardeau. Also involved in the operation are a son, Jason, and Pat Bradshaw's parents, H. J. and Thelma Robertson.

The farm is on County Road 510, a mile off Highway 61 between Fruitland and Old Appleton.

There are more than 10,000 trees available for sale on the farm -- including blue spruce, Scotch pines, white spruce and Douglas firs.

"We'll be adding another 10,000 new trees this spring," he said.

During the grand opening trees up to 15 feet, except for blue spruce, are selling for $20.

"We have established a candy lane leading to the farm," said Bradshaw. "We provide wagon rides to look at trees and gifts for the children."

Photo World, a quick-service photo-processing and finishing company that includes a portrait studio, has moved. The firm, founded in 1989 by Brian Hart, is now at 1031 Broadway.

The business is open from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays. Studio hours for taking pictures are 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturdays.

When Fazoli's Italian Restaurant opens in Cape Girardeau, it will mark the 47th Fazoli operation in the U.S.

The restaurant serves pasta, pizza and salads with a fast-food concept.

Fazoli's, based in Lexington, Ky., has stores in Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, S. Carolina, W. Virginia, Illinois and Missouri.

Fazoli's will open at Kingshighway and Independence near Schnucks and Kmart.

The new Drury Inn Hotel at the northeast corner of Interstate 24 and U.S. 60 in Paducah, Ky., held its grand opening recently.

The five-story hotel consists of 118 guest rooms, including 14 two-room suites and 20 one-room suites. Also included are four conference rooms with meeting space for 20 to 25 people and a large conference room with meeting space for up to 75.

Paducah Mayor Gerri Montgomery was on hand for the grand opening along with Drury Inns Inc. Vice President Bruce Edwards.

The hotel is owned by Drury Inns Inc., which operates more than 60 hotels in 11 states. The hotel represents the third Drury-operated property -- Drury, Hamptons, Pear Tree Inns -- at Paducah, and brings the total of rooms there to 303.

Allan Saunders, senior vice president of Peoples Bank in Paducah, was winner of a grand-prize drawing for two roundtrip tickets on TWA Airlines.

UPDATE:

Everything is clear for construction of the Red Lobster Restaurant in Cape Girardeau. Property has been acquired in front of the Victorian Inn on Route K between Interstate 55 and Silver Springs Road, and a $1 million construction permit was awarded in late November. Construction of the 6,000-square-foot restaurant is expected to get under way this month, with completion targeted for mid-summer.

A $750,000 permit was awarded in November for construction of the new 17,750-square-foot Tractor Supply Co. facility at 501 S. Kingshighway. TSC, at 612 S. Kingshighway, will expand its space by more than 7,000 square feet. TSC will receive the keys to its new building in early February and be ready for opening in early March.

CLOSINGS

Catfish Castle, 2145 Independence, the Broadway Dairy Queen, and a longtime Cape Girardeau jewelry store -- Pind's Jewelry -- are the latest on the list of business closings.

"Our leases on the Dairy Queen building and franchise were up," said Frank Bean. "The building needs remodeling with a drive-through added. We just decided not to renew."

Bean owns the Dairy Queen at 31 S. Kingshighsway and will continue to operate that restaurant.

Dairy Queen has renewed the lease on the Broadway restaurant building and will put the location up for a franchise lease, said Bean.

Gary Bass opened Catfish Castle in June 1992.

"He felt that the flood-control work at the busy Independence-Kingshighway intersection was hurting his business," said Thomas M. Meyer of Thomas L. Meyer Real Estate and Insurance Co., who had arranged the transaction for the 8,000-square-foot building.

Robert Herbst, in an advertisement appearing in the Southeast Missourian, said that Pind's, which had been in business for more than four decades, was conducting a going-out-of-business sale at West Park Mall.