LOUIS HOUCK TO BE TOPIC OF CITY BICENTENNIAL LECTURE

Louis Houck's contributions to the growth of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri will be the topic of the ninth Cape Girardeau Bicentennial Lecture, to be delivered at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Crisp Hall on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.

The title of the lecture will be "Louis Houck: Propagandist for Town, Section, State, and University."

The speaker will be William Doherty Jr., a recently retired professor at West Virginia University. He is the son of William T. Doherty, who was the principal of Central High School from 1914-16, and a history professor at Southeast from 1916-56.

The speaker is a graduate of Southeast. He received his Ph. D. in American history from the University of Missouri.

He taught for 42 years 25 of them at West Virginia University. He also taught at the University of Missouri, Kansas State, Southeast, the University of Arkansas and the University of Mississippi.

Doherty's wide publishing history includes the book "Louis Houck, Missouri Historian and Entrepreneur." He is considered the leading authority on Houck, one of the empire builders of Southeast Missouri.

The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the Johnson Faculty Center, 530 N. Pacific St.