Out of the past: April 2

1999

A car driven by an 86-year-old Cape Girardeau woman crashed through the front door of the Corner Pub at Independence and Frederick streets just before 4 p.m. yesterday; two patrons of the bar were trapped briefly, but weren’t injured; the driver of the car had a minor injury; police say she was westbound on Independence when her vehicle was struck by a northbound vehicle; the collision caused her car to spin around and into the bar.

Cape Girardeau is in bloom; more than 42,000 daffodils are blooming across the city, part of an ongoing beautification project of Vision 2000; the first flowers were planted in 1988, and it is hoped to have 50,000 bulbs in the ground by 2000.

1974

The 230 participants in the Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair begin arriving in the morning to register and assemble their exhibits in Houck Field House on the Southeast Missouri State University campus; the effects of the current energy crisis are reflected in the myriad projects dealing with energy, particularly the usage of solar energy and nuclear energy as power sources.

Dr. C. John Ritter, an incumbent, and Mary Kasten, a former member, win three-year seats on the Cape Girardeau Board of Education in a school election; Ritter receives 1,929 votes and Kasten 1,584; running 209 votes behind Kasten to place third is Dr. C.T. Herbert; Jerry W. Ford, with no opposition, chalks up 2,688 votes as the candidate for a one-year unexpired term on the school board resulting from the resignation of a former member, the Rev. Earl W. Tharp.

1949

Cape Girardeau’s scattered building restrictions, contained in numerous ordinances and amendments, is wrapped up in a single package today after the City Council yesterday repealed all old construction laws and brought them up to date in a new code; most of the old provisions remain, but several important changes were made, and a great many new sections added by incorporating as part of the ordinance the recommendations in the National Building Code prepared by the National Board of Fire Underwriters.

The Cape Osteopathic Hospital — the former John Miller home at the southwest corner of Spanish and Merriwether streets — has opened its doors to emergency patients and will welcome the public at a formal open house April 24; the hospital represents a $90,000 investment by the city’s osteopathic physicians and surgeons.

1924

James A. Barks was reelected mayor of Cape Girardeau and Roy J. Brissenden and Martin Krueger were elected commissioners in the municipal election yesterday; George L. Meyer and J.F. Neal were reelected members of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education; both taxes for school purposes were adopted by heavy majorities.

Beginning Saturday, Cape Girardeau banks will have new Saturday hours; banks will be closed from 3 to 5 p.m. and then will be open for business until 8 p.m., according to a joint announcement by the city banks; closing banks from 3 to 5 each Saturday afternoon will give employees an opportunity to “balance the books,” the announcement states; for several years the banks have been keeping open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, the busiest period of the day being from 5 to 7 p.m.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a blog called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper. Check out her blog at www.semissourian.com/history.