'TEN-MILE' GARDEN WAS A HIGHLIGHT

Today there is barely a break between the Jackson business strip and the Cape Girardeau business strip. This was not always the case. The area was once widely heralded for the "Ten Mile Garden," a 10-mile stretch along (then) Highway 25, from the two city limits, with flowers, trees and shrubs carefully planted.

After the rock road was paved in 1930, the Missouri State Highway Department provided a number of plants. A local beautification plan kicked in more.

"Ten miles of flowers, trees and shrubs have a certain significance, for through it there appears a message from the cities of Jackson and Cape Girardeau that here is a fine place in which to live and work," said the Silver Anniversary Jackson Homecomers program in 1949.

"There's nothing of the kind to equal it in the United States," wrote Harry O'Brien, roving editor of Better Homes & Garden.