Out of the past: Jan. 21

1993

Robert Ridgeway, a 30-year veteran firefighter and fire chief of the Mashpee Fire Department in Mashpee, Massachusetts, has been hired as Cape Girardeau's new fire chief; Ridgeway, 49, will move from the Cape Cod area of New England to Cape Girardeau to begin work here March 1.

The Cape Girardeau City Council last night approved a contract with the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association for services to solicit business, industry and commerce for the area; it also appropriated the city's $50,000 annual fee for the services.

1968

The general contract for the construction of Good Shepherd Lutheran Chapel was awarded earlier this week to the Rickard Construction Co.; the three sub-contracts were awarded to E.A. Polack for plumbing, E.W. Ossenkop for heating and Cotner and Green for electrical; the chapel was designed by architect John Boardman.

William F. Suedekum, 82, who for 55 years was a merchant on Good Hope Street and who served two terms on the County Court, dies at a Cape Girardeau hospital, where he had been a patient five days; Suedekum, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Suedekum of near Dutchtown, founded a hardware store on Good Hope Street in 1913 with the late C.H.W. Meyer.

1943

Those in Cape Girardeau needing direct relief are finding the county Social Security office here is without funds to aid them; the officials at the office say no money has been made available by the state for relief work as an appropriation hasn't been made by the Legislature; at this time, the need for direct relief has been greater than at any other time, because of the severity of the cold weather.

Gustav B. Margraf of Cape Girardeau has been admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington; being 27 years old, he was one of the youngest of the group admitted; Margraf is in the Washington office of a New York law firm.

1918

The fuel situation in Cape Girardeau is more serious than ever, according to Col. L.B. Houck, fuel administrator; only two cars of coal have arrived here; the coal is being rationed by Houck and his assistant, Ben Vinyard, with those families suffering from lack of fuel in the bitterly cold weather receiving small amounts.

Seth Babcock resigns his position on the faculty of the Normal School in the morning and will quit the school March 1; at that time, he will take up duties as the county farm agent for Cape Girardeau County; he will succeed C.M. McWilliams, who recently resigned to engage in private farming in Illinois.

-- Sharon K. Sanders