Out of the past: March 10

1999

"Heroes and Legends: An Aerial Tribute to U.S. Veterans" is the theme for this year's three-day Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival; groups like the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts across Southeast Missouri have expressed interest in helping promote the show, scheduled for July 10-12 at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner says nobody has contacted him about the vacant coaching position at St. Louis University, and that he is extremely happy at SEMO, where he just completed his second season; Garner's name was on a St. Louis Post-Dispatch "unofficial list of coaches who might be considered candidates to replace Charlie Spoonhour at St. Louis U."

1974

The former Carps Super Store, 211 S. Kingshighway, now carries the names of its new owner and operator, Mohr Value; renovation of the store is virtually complete, including enlargement of the retail space to around 41,000 square feet, leaving the remainder of the 50,000-square-foot building for warehousing.

Special services at New Testament Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau honor the third anniversary of the pastoral appointment of the Rev. Glenn Foster; the Faithmen Quartet and the Gospel Jubilaires provide music, and the Rev. Louis McAdoo of Springfield is guest speaker.

1949

A combination of rain and snow, driven out of the north by a howling gale, coats streets, highways and vegetation with an icy covering in the morning, making driving hazardous for a time and knocking down several utility lines in Cape Girardeau; the blizzard roars into the district in the early hours of last evening and continued through the night.

An exploding gasoline stove flash fired in the W.H. Pledger Battery and Auto Service Station, 216 Mason St., at 4:20 p.m. yesterday, destroying the downstairs business quarters and upstairs living space as it ate out the interior of the frame structure; all of the Pledger family belongings in the four rooms upstairs were destroyed, and most of the valuable equipment in the business section of the first floor were either badly damaged or destroyed.

1924

Cape Girardeau and all Southeast Missouri are blanketed with the heaviest snow in six years; starting early yesterday morning, snow fell almost continuously all that day, covering the entire section, interrupting traffic and making county roads almost impassable; 8 inches of snow fell during the day, and snow flurries continue this morning.

A broken trolley wire ties up street car service for a half hour, shortly after 11 a.m.; the wire, rendered brittle by the cold weather, parts near the corner of Broadway and Sprigg Street; workers immediately set to work welding the severed ends, and the power is off for about 30 minutes.

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.