BOOK ON CAPE GIRARDEAU HISTORY IS NOW AVAILABLE

The photographs stare out at you: snapshots of Cape Girardeau's richly hued past, from the businesses to the buildings to the people.

The black-and-white photographs are contained in a book called "Images of the Past in the City of Roses." The 240-page pictorial history book, published by the Southeast Missourian, includes about 600 photographs. Some of them date back to the late 1800s while others are as recent as this summer's flood.

The hardcover book also contains about 70 articles about Cape Girardeau's past, organized into 12 chapters encompassing everything from business to education, government to religion.

Southeast Missourian staff members wrote and edited the book. The books are being printed by Concord Printing Services.

The book costs $25, including tax. Sharon Sanders, Southeast Missourian librarian who coordinated the book project, said 2,000 copies of the book are being printed.

"We are taking orders for them now," she said. Persons wishing to reserve a copy of the book must pay $5 in advance, and the rest upon delivery.

Copies of the book are expected to be available by the end of this month or early December, Sanders said.

"To see all of these years of our city's history, it's really impressive," said Joni Adams, managing editor of the Southeast Missourian and one of those involved in developing the book.

"You realize there were a lot of pretty amazing people," she said.

"I think when people sit there and look at the book they are going to be very proud of their heritage," said Adams.

The stories and pictures don't offer a comprehensive history of the 200-year-old Mississippi River town, but rather give us glimpses into the past.

As with any history, people make it interesting -- people like Edwin and Eugene Poe, two Egypt Mills area brothers who fought on opposite sides in the Civil War.

Edwin Poe was a Confederate soldier; Eugene Poe fought for the Union cause. Following the war they both returned home to farm near Cape Girardeau. They both named sons after each other.

President William Howard Taft visited the city on Oct. 26, 1909, aboard the flagship of a 16-boat flotilla. The Cape Girardeau Bell Telephone Co. rang all the city's telephones to notify residents that the president's boat was approaching.

Evangelist Billy Sunday visited Cape Girardeau twice, once in 1926 and again in 1933. On the first occasion, Sunday and his entourage stayed five weeks. During that time, he preached to an estimated 250,000 people.

The city's first real movie theater, Dreamland Theatre, opened on Main Street on April 15, 1907. Ten cents earned you admission; for kids it was just a nickel.

By today's standards, it was anything but grand. The projector had to be cranked by hand, with the film unrolling into a canvas sack.

The city has survived various disasters, including two tornadoes -- one in 1850 and another in 1949.

All of these events are mentioned in the book, as well as many others both large and small.

"I see it not as just a history book, but as a way of preserving the past," said Sanders.