Out of the past: March 14

1990

A ground-breaking ceremony was held yesterday for the Kingshighway and William Street improvement project, but for some area businesses it was anything but a joyous occasion; several merchants say their businesses, located southwest of that intersection, have been hurt economically by construction of a concrete barrier that prevents motorists from turning left off Kingshighway between William and Independence streets; they worry that the latest work at the intersection will provide a further roadblock to their customers.

The Regional Commerce and Growth Association has moved its office from a building on Bloomfield Road to the second floor of a building at 1021 Kingsway; the larger quarters are in a commercial structure owned by Mayor Gene Rhodes.

1965

Citizens of Cape Girardeau County paid $511,911.83 in state income tax last year; individuals paid $436,385.58 on a taxable income of $21,493,792, and county corporations paid $75,526.25 on a taxable income of $3,782,073.

Martin Hecht, the owner, plans to have two business buildings on North Spanish Street, between Themis and Broadway, facing west, razed to provide a parking lot; the structure to the south, just south of an alley, was formerly known as the Leming building; the building to the north has been the Biederman bargain outlet; it formerly was used as the Moose Club headquarters.

1940

Ross Young, Main Street businessman, announces he will be a candidate in the August primary for the Democratic nomination for sheriff of Cape Girardeau; Young was a candidate for the nomination four years ago, but was nosed out in a large field by the present sheriff, Fred Hartle, who went on to win in the general election.

A water well is being drilled for the Midwest Dairy Products Corp. at the rear of its plant on South Spanish Street, with the shaft now down to 100 feet; the company hopes to get a reliable supply of cold water, probably 58 to 60 degrees, to be used in cooling dairy products.

1915

J.F. Mitchim, editor of the De Soto (Missouri) Press, died suddenly at his home in De Soto yesterday morning; about 20 years ago, he was the editor and publisher of a Cape Girardeau weekly newspaper, the New Era; the plant was located in the building where the Palace saloon now stands on lower Broadway.

Howard Brown, son of Andy Brown, the Haarig feed man, comes down from Jefferson Barracks to spend the day with relatives before being sent out into the U.S. Army; he expects to leave Tuesday for Douglass, Arizona, and from there will likely be sent to the Philippine Islands.

-- Sharon K. Sanders