Out of the past: July 7

1998

A building that housed the offices and workshop of Cooper Oil Co. in South Cape Girardeau was destroyed Monday afternoon by a fire that apparently started when a hot water heater ignited fumes from a fuel tank; three engines from the Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the blaze, which started shortly after 3 p.m.; by 3:29, all fire lines were in place; 10 minutes later, the fire was under control, but not before the building at 1301 Giboney was destroyed.

If tax credits and other funding mechanisms aren't in place by January, the new owners of old Saint Francis Hospital will give up plans to renovate the structure, says Trent Condellone; Condellone of 801 Good Hope Inc., the group that bought the old hospital this year, updated the city council on the group's plans last night.

1973

Formal opening for the new Super X Drug Store, occupying about 15,000 square feet of the Kroger building at 2121 Independence St., will be held Monday; it will be largest of its type in the city.

Cape Realty Co. plans to move into new and larger quarters next week; it will move from 1936 Broadway to 2121 Broadway, where its corporate offices will be permanently located; the firm recently purchased the new location from Cape Electric Supply; the realty company has been in business 15 years, and C.R. Haertling is president.

1948

In an effort to get adequate fire protection in Cape Girardeau's remote north and west ends, the Cape Girardeau Association of Insurance Agents has agreed to bear all preliminary expense prior to the calling of a bond issue election for purchase of land, construction and equipment costs relating to two proposed fire stations; Arnold Roth, president of the association, says an option on one piece of property has been secured and negotiations are in progress for another site.

Louis W. Muegge, for 17 years the coach of Cape Girardeau Central High School football teams, will step down this fall, turning the gridiron chores to his last year's assistant, Bob Beard; but sing no swan song for "Laughing Lou," he'll still be coaching basketball and spring baseball at Central; the new head football coach absorbed his instruction under Muegge, and later under Emmett R. "Abe" Stuber, late of State College, now head coach at Iowa State College.

1923

Dean Walter Williams and a party of editors and 18 journalism graduates arrive on the steamer Bald Eagle in the morning and are met by a number of citizens who know some of the men personally; after a dozen automobiles take the visitors on a ride through town, they are given a reception at State College; Williams has come to Cape Girardeau for the express purpose of delivering the address at the inspirational meeting to be held at New Broadway Theatre on Sunday morning.

The Goddard Grocer Co. building at Main and William streets.File

The Goddard Grocer Co. building at Main and William streets.File

Arrangements have been completed for the construction of a new $21,000 branch home of the Goddard Grocer Co. of St. Louis, which will be located here; a contract for erection of the building has been let to a local contractor; the new house will be located at the south end of Main Street at the intersection of William Street; it will be the third wholesale grocer house in Cape Girardeau.

-- Sharon K. Sanders