Out of the past: Aug. 10

1999

For the second time in a month, the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission has rejected a Fulton contractor’s bid for pavement repairs to the old Mississippi River bridge; as a result, the span won’t be closed to night traffic this year, but state highway crews are expected to make some spot repairs during daytime hours this fall.

A 123-lot development on Highway 25 just south of Jackson is stymied for the moment because of concerns about low water flow and, to a lesser extent, low water pressure in the area; annexation of the subdivision to be built by the Jackson company Progressive Development, LLC, was tabled at last week’s Jackson Board of Aldermen meeting; the board’s primary concern is over fire safety and potential damage to the city’s fire insurance rating.

1974

A drop in water level of over 16 feet in the Mississippi River at most points between Cairo, Illinois, and St. Louis has riverboat pilots feeling their way through some areas of the river and has crimped barge line operations; the cause of the low water is, of course, the drought which has struck the Midwest, resulting in Cape Girardeau receiving only 1.9 inches of rain since June 16; the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau yesterday was 14.68 feet and falling.

The Cape Girardeau School District has about $8,000 worth of new textbooks it doesn’t know what to do with; responsible for the dilemma is a recent Missouri Supreme Court ruling against a law which allowed public school textbooks to be loaned to private schools; last spring, prior to the ruling, the public school system ordered books requested by non-public schools for use this fall; this would have been the third school year for the pubic school system to provide textbooks for all elementary and secondary pupils living in the district.

1949

Contracts for road construction in the amount of $921,748 in Cape Girardeau County, including an $876,947 bid by the R.B. Potashnick Construction Co. for the Highway 61 program, were let yesterday by the State Highway Commission; the Potashnick bid was for 3.1 miles of grading and bridges over Little Ramsey Creek, Drainage Ditch No. 2, Diversion Channel, Highway 74 and the Frisco tracks south of Cape Girardeau; the other contract award in the county was to L.V. Steinhoff & James Kirkwood Construction Co. of Advance for 7.1 miles of grading and surfacing on Route W from Route J near Fruitland to the Cape Girardeau Township line on Perryville Road.

The Cape Girardeau City Council grants a quit claim deed to a plot of cemetery property at the corner of Clark and Dunklin avenues to the Missouri Utilities Co. for construction of a transformer station to improve service to the west and north parts of the city.

1924

A cornerstone-laying ceremony for the new $40,000 parochial school building which the congregation of Trinity Lutheran Church is erecting on Pacific Street, south of Trinity Hall, is held in the afternoon at the building site; appropriate church hymns are sung by the congregation; a sermon is delivered by the pastor, the Rev. F.H. Melzer in German, and the Rev. A. Duenow of Steelville, Illinois, preaches a sermon in the English language; excavation work has been completed and the foundation of the new, four-classroom school is in; as soon as next week construction work will start by builder C.H. Reisenbichler.

In response to a petition signed by more than 600 persons, the Caruthersville Board of Education has assured the people of that community that the Bible will be read regularly in the public schools there; the move resulted from a feeling that more moral and religious training is needed in the public schools.

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 semissourian.com/history.