Out of the past: Aug. 22

1999

The Rev. Kevin Parviz, a pastor working with Apple of His Eye Mission Society in St. Louis, is the guest speaker for Mission Festival Sunday at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Jackson; Apple of His Eye is a Jewish outreach of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod that was founded in 1996.

The best courtside seats were taken early yesterday as area basketball lovers flocked to Indian Park for the eighth annual Slamfest; the title game will take place this evening at the park; it will be preceded by a gospel fest and a slam dunk contest; the Sixers from St. Louis have won the past four Slamfests, but might be hard pressed to claim the double-elimination tournament title this year; the defending champions lost in action against the Southeast Missouri State University squad Saturday.

1974

A career Army officer, who rose through the ranks from an enlisted man to colonel in his 35 years of military service, will become Cape Girardeau’s new police chief; Col. Henry H. Gerecke, now provost marshal, 5th Army, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, will report for duty here Jan. 1; in the meantime, he will request retirement from the Army and complete studies toward a master’s degree in the criminal justice program at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas; Gerecke is no stranger to Cape Girardeau; his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Gerecke, lived here many years, and his father, the Rev. Henry F. Gerecke, a Lutheran minister, was born here.

Cape Girardeau park superintendent Donald R. Horlacher is the new assistant city manager; in that position, he will manage city affairs at the municipal airport, replacing the former airport manager, John T. Seesing, president of Cape Central Airways, Inc., the airport’s fixed-base operator.

1949

The County Court formally accepts a petition bearing 319 names of signers and officially designates Sept. 7 as the date of a special election at which voters in Cape Girardeau and Randol townships and fractions of two others will decide on extension of the Cape Special Road District; under the proposal, approximately one-third of Randol Township north of the present road district boundaries would form the major part of the proposed enlarged area; also sought for inclusion is a small strip of Hubble Township west of Cape Township and between it and Highway 25; a fractional part of Welch Township near Blomeyer is also included in the expansion request.

An extensive readjustment of business locations in the Independence Street area of the Main Street business district has begun with the start of construction of a warehouse building and demolition of a Spanish Street structure which will eventually pave the way for enlargement of the F.W. Woolworth store; the project involves six business firms in a rectangular section owned by the Houck interests.

1924

With August quickly drawing to a close, Cape Girardeau children are resigning themselves to the inevitable and are preparing to go back to school on Tuesday, Sept. 2; for the past week, janitors have been busily engaged in getting buildings in order for the first day of classes, cleaning woodwork, scrubbing floors, washing windows, cleaning and airing basements, renewing gutters and spouts and overhauling plumbing.

Mrs. C.W. Stehr of Cape Girardeau returns from St. Louis, accompanied by her son, Charles, who she had gone to meet; Charles Stehr is back from a trip to Europe.

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.