Out of the past 12/10/13

1988

Boosted by a December check of more than $500,000, city sales tax collections this year were 8 percent more than those of 1987, says city manager J. Ronald Fischer; the gains represent a nearly 25 percent increase over sales tax receipts in 1984.

Commencement exercises for 444 undergraduates and 37 graduate students are conducted at the Show Me Center; guest speaker is Dr. Fred Saalfeld, director of the Office of Naval Research in Arlington, Va.

1963

Jack E. Himmelberger, president of Himmelberger-Harrison Lumber Co., is elected president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce and will take office Jan. 1, succeeding Clarence Lee Shirrell; also elected are LaRoy Roper, first vice president; Carlton A. Bohnsack, second vice president; and Gary Rust, treasurer.

Most future construction in Cape Girardeau will carry an off-street parking requirement as specified in an ordinance enacted Monday by the city council; the provision is part of a general amendment to the zoning law and applies to dwellings, hotels, hospitals, retail stores, office buildings, theaters and industrial plants.

1938

Christmas lights are turned on in the evening as Cape Girardeau stores kick off the holiday shopping season; a schedule of extended shopping hours has been decided upon by members of the Retail Merchants Bureau.

The Tot Shop, a store to supply the needs of those younger than 10, opens at 135 N. Main St., in the building remodeled by V.J. Clemens; Mrs. Iska Johnson Hoffmeister of Jackson is manager of the shop, assisted by her sister, Mrs. L.J. Seibold.

1913

G.E. Seibert, a hustling farmer living near Jackson, is in Cape Girardeau attending the big corn show and lectures at the Normal School.

William Bohnsack, one of the pioneer citizens of Cape Girardeau and father of the well-known merchant W.H. Bohnsack Jr., died yesterday at the hospital here at the advanced age of nearly 87; Bohnsack was born in Bremenhoffen, Germany, on Feb. 3, 1827; in 1854 he came to Cape Girardeau and, after staying here about a year, returned to Germany to claim his bride; she died nearly 20 years ago; he is survived by a son and two daughters.

__Sharon K. Sanders__