Out of the past: Aug. 2

1999

Two homes in Cape Girardeau have been added to the National Register of Historic Places, bringing the city’s number of recognized listings to 14; the homes are the Pott house, a late Victorian and Italianate design at Themis and Pacific streets, that is owned by Steven and Emily Mellies, and the Shivelbine house, an Industrial Revolution and Victorian-style dwelling at 300 S. Spanish St., owned by Charles and Adele Kupchella.

He once referred to his work as “thoughts on a wall” and probably never recognized the depths of his talent; Jacob Kenneth "Jake" Wells, a well-known Cape Girardeau artist who lived most recently at Marble Hill, died yesterday at age 81.

1974

A revised preliminary plan for construction of a new county jail and sheriff’s office on the County Farm in Cape Girardeau has been approved by the County Court; by a vote of two to one, the court yesterday authorized architect Thomas E. Phillips of Cape Girardeau to prepare plans and specifications for groundwork on the proposed site and to proceed with preparation of a final construction plan for the building; commenting on the action, Jackson city attorney Kenneth L. Waldron said the court’s stamp of approval on the preliminary plan is “another link in a chain of official acts that will lead to the illegal signing of a construction contract.”

A petition drive will be initiated soon to put a tax proposal calling for establishment of a Cape County Public Health Unit before voters at the November general election; the proposal, the fourth time it will be voted on in four years, will call for a special tax of 10 cents per $100 assessed valuation to establish and maintain the unit.

1949

Sale of his interest in the M. & S. Music Co., 623-630 Broadway, to Leland J. Shivelbine is announced by R.F. “Peg” Meyer; Meyer, who has been at the location for 15 years and seven months, says he is going to rest for two months, and his plans after that are indefinite; the store was opened Feb. 15, 1934, and for 13 years Meyer managed it for the St. Louis Band Instrument Co.; for more than two years, Meyer and W.A. Shivelbine, father of Leland, have owned the business.

An Army airplane, flying from North Carolina, is expected to arrive in Cape Girardeau late today with additional equipment for the care of infantile paralysis patients at Saint Francis Hospital; from here it will continue to Sikeston with further supplies to be used in a polio ward to be established soon at Community Hospital.

1924

A grandmother at the age of 32; Mrs. J.E. Dehner of St. Louis, formerly of Cape Girardeau, is here visiting her sister, Mrs. Gus Eumont; Dehner, now 36, is the daughter of J.H. Freeze of Chaffee; she married at the age of 15, as did her daughter, the mother of two; Dehner doesn’t ordinarily approve of marriage at that age, but says hers and her daughter’s marriages “were happy exceptions to the rule.”

Steve Goodman, 22-year-old worker at the Marquette Cement plant, is badly injured when he steps into a man-hole over a screw conveyor, and his right foot is severed above the ankle.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a weekend column called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper.