Out of the past: Dec. 7

1998

In the 1950s, the State Historical Society of Missouri began placing roadside markers made of a cast aluminum alloy with an enamel blue finish and 23-karat gold lettering topped by the state seal; the information they conveyed was intended "to give the traveler and the local citizen a feeling of identity with his environment"; to celebrate its centennial, the society has published a book, "Marking Missouri History," that collects the information inscribed on the markers and adds related essays, photographs and drawings.

The Cape Girardeau City Council grants preliminary approval of a site plan request for construction of a new anchor store at West Park Mall; a site plan filed with the city in relation to another matter lists the tenant of the proposed store as Sears, Roebuck and Co., which currently operates a store at 2102 William.

1973

An 8-foot wooden rocking chair is the star of the "Rockathon" at Grace United Methodist Church in the evening; the rocker was constructed especially for the event by Jerry Reynolds of Southeast Missouri Lumber Co.; the huge chair, along with several normal-size rockers, will be occupied by the church youth for 24 hours beginning at 6 tonight, to raise money for Tahlequah American Indian youth of Petit Chapel in Oklahoma; participants have agreed to rock 30 minutes for each $1 pledged.

R. Ellis Baker, 78, of Cape Girardeau, a leader in organizing the United Shoe Workers of America at International Shoe Co. here, died yesterday at Saint Francis Hospital, where he had been a patient a month; Baker helped organize shoe company workers and was elected president of the union in the 1940s.

1948

C.D. Ousley, 221 S. Sprigg St., is among the first Southeast Missouri hunters to kill a deer this season; he bagged a four-point buck Monday morning in Carter County shortly after the season opened; his hunting partner, Roy Northcraft, 927 Jefferson Ave., returns home empty handed; a six-point, 250-pound buck, one of the biggest reported, was taken by F.V. Ricketts and J.R. Hopkins of Marble Hill, Missouri, while hunting near the Ellington, Missouri, area Monday.

Somewhat clearing the atmosphere as far as Republican hopefuls are concerned, J.S.N. Farquhar, who is completing his term as representative in the Legislature, says he won't be a candidate for the nomination to fill the place vacated by the death of Rep.-elect Roy E. Goodwin of Jackson; other possibilities for the GOP are Frank A. Lowry, Robert G. Brady and Jack O. Knehans.

1923

Three extra men, in addition to the three substitutes already on the job, will be employed by the Cape Girardeau Post Office in handling the large quantity of Christmas mail here during the holidays; it will be necessary to have two more employees delivering packages and another assisting in the office; this will give the local post office a staff of 26 men.

Orders have been placed for costly machinery for a new Cape Girardeau sand and gravel company that is to operate between Lutesville and Glen Allen, Missouri, on Big Crooked Creek; Lester Bailey will head the enterprise; a Yale University man, Bailey has been in the area for the past year conducting an investigation of marble, silica, gravel and other deposits and considers the Big Crooked Creek gravel beds to be as promising as can be found anywhere.

-- Sharon K. Sanders