WHERE WE LIVE: DELTA

There's nothing big about Delta, and that suits J.R. Dunning just fine.

The 73-year-old Dunning has lived in Delta since he was 6 or 7 years old, except for a brief stint in the Army in 1945 and 1946. He and his wife, Betty Jo, got married 52 years ago in the simple, solid home he built on Route N.

"My wife and I got married in the front room. I've never moved," said Dunning as he sat in an easy chair in his living room. "I guess it is just home."

"Home" includes Dunning's white house with a porch swing and a carefully tended vegetable garden.

Dunning can't imagine living anywhere else. Three of his four children still live in Delta.

The town in southwest Cape Girardeau County has grown little over the years. Dunning remembers the population was about 320 when he got married. Now the population stands at about 450.

A retired state highway worker, Dunning used to know everybody in Delta.

It's a town where people know their neighbors and identify streets by the people who lived there, not by the numbers on the block. Street names and numbers only went up in recent years with the implementation of the county's 911 emergency system.

Street signs don't mean a lot in Delta, Dunning said.

He should know. A retired state highway worker, Dunning said he "rearranged snow flakes for 38 years."

Scattered along Highway 25 in Delta are a handful of businesses, including a couple home-grown restaurants, a transmission repair firm, a produce market and a gas station/convenience store that doubles as a deli and pizza parlor.

Dunning and others refer to it as "the coffee shop," a place where they gather for their morning cup of coffee and conversation.

A combination City Hall and community center sits back from the road, as does the fire station manned by a volunteer department, and a nearby post office, a small white-painted, block building.

There's no door-to-door mail delivery in Delta. People come to the post office to pick up their mail from the 272 boxes crammed into the tiny lobby.

Postmaster Mike Kelley grew up in Delta. He now lives outside of Advance, Mo.

"I know pretty well everybody," Kelley said.

Delta can be a quiet place, punctuated by passing trains or barking dogs.

It's a town that owes its existence to the railroads. In 1887, Delta was just a railroad depot for the three railroads that served it, the Cotton Belt, Iron Mountain and Houck railroads.

At one time, Delta was a swampy place consisting of a single row of houses perched on stilts. A boardwalk extended from the houses to the railroad tracks.

But the depot has long since disappeared, along with some of the rail traffic.

Today, the town's identity is tied to the local school district. The high school sits across the street from Dunning on the same property where the old high school used to stand.

School mornings are a busy time. "The high school kids drive around and around until the bell rings," said Dunning.

Town pride resides in its high school sports teams. The community turns out for basketball games, said Nate Crowden, the former boys basketball coach who grew up in Delta and now is the high school principal. Crowden also coaches girls basketball.

"There is definitely a closeness, even with the students in school," he said.

In many ways, the town has changed little since his own high school days.

"The biggest business when I went here was the school. Today, the biggest business is the school," said Crowden.

That's fine with Dunning, who likes having the school as a neighbor.

There aren't any stoplights to slow you down as you leave Delta.

Getting out of town is easy, Dunning said. "It don't take long in any direction."

But some, like Dunning, choose to stay.

"I guess it is just home," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com n 335-6611, extension 123