Museum reception Friday

Thank you for the excellent coverage of the 100-year celebration of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department. The online video and articles brought out over 300 people. The event was a huge success, and a lot of first time visitors came to the museum.

Our volunteers are creative people and dedicated to the preservation of the history of Cape Girardeau. In addition we are always looking for new volunteers in an effort to keep the museum open, draw events, create interactive exhibits and hold workshops for people interested in preserving their oral history, memorabilia, photos, heirlooms and artifacts.

I especially enjoyed getting to know Mike Ramsey and Sam Welker with the Cape Girardeau Fire Department. These two men, along with Marjorie Thompson, were instrumental in the collection of the history of the fire department and have collected enough information to publish a collectible tribute.

On Friday the museum board of directors will have a reception to honor our historic preservation student workers and the unveiling of the exhibit they designed and constructed, a historic model of the sharecropper demonstration held 70 years ago in the Missouri Bootheel. We will also be honoring Louis Houck and the 100th anniversary of his book on the history of Southeast Missouri. You will see original equipment he used to survey as well as other artifacts related to Mr. Houck. The event starts at 5 p.m. Friday.

Starting May 19 we will be open noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

VINEY MOSLEY, volunteer, Cape River Heritage Museum, Cape Girardeau