1920s, 1930s BUILDING YEARS FOR CAPE GIRARDEAU

Riverboats regularly docked at Cape Girardeau in the 1920s and 1930s.

It was the age of "Big Band" music, and radio ruled the airwaves. Television was just being invented.

Street cars operated in Cape Girardeau through 1934.

Southeast Missouri State University was a small teachers college. During the 1920s and until the late 1930s, fewer than 1,000 students attended the school.

In 1920, Cape Girardeau's population stood at just over 10,000. By 1930, the population had climbed to 16,227. Despite the Depression, the city continued to grow, reaching a population of around 19,000 by the end of the decade.

Elam Vangilder was the pride of Cape Girardeau in the 1920s.

From 1919 to 1929, he pitched in the Big Leagues for the St. Louis Browns and then for Detroit.

He once bested Dizzy Dean in a game played at Charleston, striking out 22 batters for the Capahas.

Drafted during World War I, he played for the Army team against the Browns in Texas. He then joined the American League team. He continued to pitch for the Capahas after the close of each major league season.

As a pitcher, Vangilder never made more than $7,000. In 1922, he had his best season with the Browns, winning 19 games and losing 13.

For his career, he had a record of 99 wins and 102 losses.

He lived out his life in Cape Girardeau. He died in 1977.

Vangilder wasn't the only thing going for Cape Girardeau in those days.

In the 1920s, the new Frisco Railroad station was dedicated. The public library opened on May 24, 1921, at Courthouse Park.

The steamer, Cape Girardeau, was christened on April 23, 1924.

Civic leader and railroad builder Louis Houck died in 1925.

Evangelist Billy Sunday held a five-week religious revival in Cape Girardeau in the winter of 1926, preaching at a wooden tabernacle set up for the occasion at the corner of Bellevue and Middle streets.

During his stay, Sunday preached to an estimated 250,000 people.

He returned to the city once more, for a two-week stay in December 1933.

Southeast Missouri Hospital was dedicated in 1928. So, too, was the Mississippi River Bridge at Cape Girardeau.

Famed band leader John Philip Sousa visited the city in 1929.

In October 1930, automobiles for the first time could travel from St. Louis to Cape Girardeau entirely on concrete pavement.

The city of Cape Girardeau adopted the rose as its official flower on Sept. 6, 1937.

Homer Gilbert grew up in the 1920s and 1930s.

Gilbert often visited the riverboats at the waterfront. "I always tried to get to them because they had fine musicians on them. I liked to listen to them play," said Gilbert, who joined the Municipal Band in 1927 at the age of 14.

Dances were popular. Gilbert said Capaha Park once had a building where dances were regularly held. Gilbert was among the musicians who performed at the dances.

"People walked a lot," Gilbert remembered. Automobiles were a luxury.

"I used to get on the streetcar and ride the circle just to get cool in the summer months."

The 85-year-old Gilbert remembers the Great Depression. "There were just no jobs and very little money."

Raymond Vogel, 83, also grew up in that era.

The Cape Girardeau lawyer graduated from Southeast Missouri State Teachers College in 1937.

Vogel said the campus consisted of Academic Hall and a few surrounding buildings along Normal Avenue. Few students had cars.

Sadie Kent ran the school library, which was housed in Academic Hall until November 1939 when a new school library opened across the street. The library later was named in her honor.

The library was her domain and she let students know it.

"She wasn't very quiet herself," recalled Vogel. "She would fuss at you really loud."

Times have changed, but for Gilbert, Vogel and others who lived through that era, the memories remain.