Out of the past 1/21/13

1988

City officials are backing away from the idea of establishing a government efficiency commission; acting City Manager Al Stoverink says he "took the initiative not to bring it back up (for city council discussion), because it was ... a source of conflict (within the council)."

The Kenneth R. Brown farm, west of Fruitland, is the oldest of 10 Cape Girardeau County farms selected for listing in the Missouri Century Farm program; the Brown farm was originally the John Long farm and has been in the same family almost 150 years.

1963

Winter clamped a frigid 2-degree lock on Cape Girardeau overnight and once more brought forth the threat of a Mississippi River ice gorge in the narrows above Cairo, Ill.; ice is piled high in some sections of the river, but it all continues to float downstream for now.

A zoning hearing is held in the evening to discuss a proposal by John H. Freeze and Lory Stahly to build a two-story building that would house married State College students or faculty members; the structure would be built on a tract at the rear of property fronting on the west side of Sprigg Street; access to the site is over college-owned property.

1938

DEXTER, Mo. -- The Jeffersonian Hotel, a landmark erected nearly a half century ago, is destroyed by a morning fire, with a loss expected to exceed $25,000; all occupants of the hotel escape, 10 traveling salesmen who spent the night there being driven from their rooms; other guests had already arisen for the day.

Except for minor adjustments, installation of a seismograph at the Teachers College is completed by a staff of scientists of St. Louis University and members of the technical staff of the scientific department at the college.

1913

The rainfall so far this month has been 12 1/4 inches; this is the greatest rainfall in any one month in four years; at several points in Southeast Missouri, railroad tracks are flooded, and trains are forced to detour around the high water.

The Cape Girardeau City Council has approved a plan to pave Sprigg Street, between Themis and Good Hope streets; the property owners along the street desire to have a concrete surface installed like the Spanish Street paving.

-- Sharon K. Sanders