MONUMENTS CAN INSTILL CIVIC PRIDE

A story and drawing on the front page of Monday's Southeast Missourian have produced a lot of comments around town. The story was about the 60th anniversary of the A.C. Brase Arena Building at Cape Girardeau's Arena Park. The project was part of the Works Progress Administration program that provided jobs to workers in dire straits during the Great Depression.

The drawing was an architect's sketch for a grand entryway to what was then called Fairground Park, where the arena building was erected. Although the entrance, featuring an arch across the roadway, was never built, the concept still has a good deal of appeal all these years later.

The drawing was a reminder of the civic pride that can be generated by monumental projects. No one is likely to clamor for the arch to be built at Arena Park, but there are other projects likely to have a lasting impression on visitors to our community.

One of those, certainly, is the lighting scheme for the Emerson Memorial Bridge under construction across the Mississippi River. A local effort is being made to raise nearly half a million dollars for this project, which will illuminate the sweeping lines of the suspension bridge.