Out of the past: April 25

1999

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The congregation of Westminster Presbyterian Church honors its pastor and his wife, the Rev. Miles and Caroline White, during an anniversary celebration in the morning; a brunch is served after the worship service; the Whites have been serving the Cape Girardeau church for 10 years; he is the fourth minister for the congregation that began in 1963.

Dr. Eric Mount, the son of a former minister at First Presbyterian Church, preaches there in the morning; Mount’s father was pastor of First Presbyterian from 1947 to 1967; Eric Mount is professor of religion at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky; he has been a faculty member since 1966.

1974

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A helicopter from St. Louis Helicopter Airways in Maryland Heights lifted 3,246-pound air conditioning units and accessories to the roof of the Arena Building yesterday; 10 skylifts were made — six to place the major units and four for other equipment; Thomas C. Holshouser, architect for the improvement project at the Arena, says the units will provide 125 tons of air conditioning.

Hiring of a chief psychiatric social worker, approval of a $7,000 grant application for a drug abuse program and progress on the establishment of a mental health advisory council are announced by Louis E. Masterson, administrative director of the new Mental Health Center at Saint Francis Hospital; Larry H. Trickey of Jackson Route 3, presently chief psychiatric social worker at Southeast Missouri Community Mental Health Center at Dunklin County Memorial Hospital in Kennett, has been named to fill the same position at the mental health center here.

1949

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Delivery of merchandise to Cape Girardeau’s two Kroger stores has been halted by a strike of approximately 90 truck drivers and warehouse men at the Carbondale, Illinois, branch of the company that supplies retail outlets throughout this area; Truman Bennett, manager of the Kroger supermarket, says stores here will remain in operation until the branch office notifies them otherwise; drivers and warehouse men walked off the job late Thursday, when one of the drivers refused to take out a truck equipped with a tachograph, a mechanical device that keeps a permanent record of the vehicle’s stops and speed.

The work of remodeling the old Park Theater building into an auditorium and into classrooms for services of the Salvation Army commences with Samuel E. Bass as contractor on a bid of $6,000; the contract calls for only a part of the ultimate work to be done now on the structure.

1924

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Pioneer days, when mail from Cape Girardeau to New Madrid — the two important trading points in this section of the state — was carried on horseback, is recalled in the death of J.K.P. Chewning at Blodgett; he was one of the first men to carry the mail from Cape Girardeau to New Madrid through trackless swamps and mere paths that penetrated a wilderness; Chewning was 83 years old, had been married six times and is survived by his last wife, to whom he had been married 26 years; he is also survived by two children by the last marriage, one by the first and another by the third.

Flying high and displaying a faint light, one of the racing balloons, which took off from Kelly Field at San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday afternoon, passed over Cape Girardeau at 11:10 last night; the huge balloon was sighted over the Mississippi River at a point near St. Vincent’s College and was visible only a few minutes; the race will end in Minnesota.

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.