Out of the past: July 24

1999

Since the Cape Girardeau Police Department added two traffic officers to its four-man unit a year ago, traffic citations have increased dramatically; from July 21, 1997, to July 20, 1998, there were 4,570 tickets issued; from July 21, 1998, to July 20, 1999, the number of citations rose to 9,473.

The Cape Girardeau Civic Center, which in recent years has had trouble making mortgage payments on its 12,000-square-foot building at 232 Broadway, appears to be headed in the right direction; the center has launched a capital campaign to pay off its mortgage; the goal is to $50,000; if achieved, the center would be debt free.

1974

A meeting to organize a fire district at Gordonville has been scheduled for Sunday evening at Christ Lutheran Church Parish Hall; Mayor Charles Skelton says it is hoped to get volunteers who will serve as firefighters and donations to operate the department, which will probably serve an area of three miles surrounding Gordonville; the community has acquired a 750-gallon-per-minute pumper from the State Forestry Division of the Missouri Conservation Department; about $1,000 was invested in the truck, including purchase of an 800-gallon-capacity water wagon, which gives the plumper the capability of hauling about 2,000 gallons of water to a fire.

As employees of three of Cape Girardeau’s major departments — police, fire and street — ponder over results to date of their proposals for higher pay and better working conditions, police officers’ wives meet in the evening to plan a course of action in support of their husbands’ requests; the 13 women in attendance agree they will first picket outside Common Pleas Courthouse, where City Hall is located, probably before the week is over.

1949

“Back to Church and Back to Work” is the slogan adopted by the Red Star Baptist Church; due to the May 21 tornado, many members of the congregation have been housed in scattered areas, and services and other activities of the church have been held at various places; but storm victims are now becoming adjusted and are virtually back to their normal routines, and church activities are being held in their usual places.

Despite harassment by rains throughout the afternoon, Girardeans, joined by hundreds of residents of Southern Illinois and elsewhere in Southeast Missouri, dedicate the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport and see Navy officials formally commission a Naval Air Reserve unit, which will operate from the field; an estimated 5,000 persons and hundreds of automobiles jam the airport for the event; an airshow by Naval and military craft is cut short by the weather.

1924

Grover C. Harris, 38, of 129 S. Lorimier St., sustained severe bruises and lacerations of the head, when he fell from a moving freight train at Rockview and was thrown on the tracks of the Cotton Belt Railroad there shortly after midnight; Harris, a telegraph operator at Rockview, was attempting to board the moving Frisco train in order to come into Cape Girardeau on it; he is reported to be resting comfortably at his home.

Frank Tamar, team boss for the J.W. Gerhardt Construction Co., which has the contract for excavating the lot for the new Missourian building at the southwest corner of Broadway and Lorimier Street, is making satisfactory progress, despite the very hot weather; Monday Hamar moved 219 loads of earth, hauling it a distance of nearly four blocks; Tuesday and Wednesday the weather was so hot he got out a few less than 200 yards each day; it is estimated that 9,000 yards of dirt will have to be moved for the big building’s foundation and basement.

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.