Out of the past: March 20

1999

The new waterfall in front of Kent Library on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University has been activated, while university construction crews continue their work on it; water cascades over limestone boulders five feet into a reflection pool.

U.S. Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond yesterday accused President Clinton of “highway robbery”; during a visit to Cape Girardeau, Bond blasted Clinton for trying to divert surplus revenue in the federal highway trust fund to other uses besides highway and bridge improvements; Bond leveled his criticism while standing on the banks of the Mississippi River at the foot of the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge under construction.

1974

Cape Girardeau has been designated a bicentennial community by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration; as such it will be eligible for federal and state matching funds to sponsor projects in operation before or during 1976 and related to the nation’s 200th birthday; the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau was designated in January by Mayor Howard C. Tooke as the coordinating agency for the city’s observance of the nation’s bicentennial.

Yesterday’s city primary election drew a light turnout in Cape Girardeau with only a little more than 7.3% of the voters going to the polls to nominate the two incumbents and two newcomers as the slate of candidates for City Council seats at the April 2 general election; winning advancement to the final race were incumbents Oliver A. Hope and Bradshaw Smith and Samuel L. Gill and Brenda J. Green.

1949

In the absence of the pastor, the Rev. Vernon A. Hammond, who was called to Chicago by the illness of a relative, Professor E.A. Collins of State College is speaker at the morning worship service at First Christian Church; he speaks on the subject “Dead Timber”; the Sunday evening service and the midweek service Wednesday have been canceled.

The new Knights of Columbus bowling alleys at Perryville are officially opened in a ceremony in which the heads of all civic organizations of the city give short congratulatory addresses; the new building is 75 by 135 feet and, besides the eight new alleys, has a large meeting room; the air-conditioned building also contains a large refreshment counter, television and numerous other entertainment features for the general public.

1924

Southeast Missouri lumber dealers, on the second day of their convention in Cape Girardeau, hear a bitter arraignment of the proposed workman’s compensation law for Missouri; describing the movement of organized labor to secure the passage of a workman’s compensation law as one which would bar factories in the state and depress business more than any one other feature, W.J. Reeves of St. Louis, representative of the Associated Industries of Missouri, pleads with lumbermen to do all in their power to defeat the law at the polls in November; the convention will end this evening with a banquet at the Elks Building.

The Ideal Building at 809-11 Broadway has been purchased from C.O. Hobbs by the Louis K. Juden Post of the American Legion; the purchase price was $11,300, including the lot upon which the building stands; once the property is transferred April 1, the second floor will be remodeled into suitable headquarters and club rooms for the Legion and its auxiliary; the two store rooms on the ground floor will be leased as at present, one being occupied by the Ideal Lunch Room and the other by Polack Bros. Plumbing Co.

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 www.semissourian.com/history.