Out of the past: March 29

1998

Cape Girardeau has grown more in the first seven years of the 1990s than it did throughout the entire 1980s decade; new population estimates, prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau through a cooperative program between state and federal governments, indicate an increase of almost 1,000 residents in the city of Cape Girardeau, during the first seven years of the 1990s; that compares to almost non-existent growth during the 1980s, when the city population grew from 34,361 in 1980 to only 34,474, according to the 1990 census.

Eisleben Lutheran Church in Scott City dedicates its new parish hall and office building in the afternoon; the Rev. James Kalthoff, president of the Missouri District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, is guest speaker; a reception follows in the new hall.

1973

The National Weather Service at Cairo, Illinois, predicts the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau will rise steadily the next three days before cresting here Monday at 42 feet, 10 feet above flood stage and just shy of the 42.4-foot record set in 1943; further south, the Army Corps of Engineers continues a close watch along the 12-mile-long fuse plug section of the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway as the rising floodwaters continue pounding the already reinforced dirt levee.

Construction of a K-Mart in Cape Girardeau is assured when a building permit is taken out by the Malan Construction Co. of Detroit, Michigan, for the project; the 64,588-square-foot structure will be built on Independence Street, west of Kingshighway on a site formerly operated as a golf driving range.

1948

Despite the cold temperatures, some 2,000 persons from seven states were present for the Easter sunrise service atop Bald Knob near Alto Pass, Illinois; many of the shivering attendants stayed in their automobiles with their windows open to hear an address by Dr. Carl C. Bracy, president of McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois; others filled the seats supplied for the open-air service, and many stood, wrapped in woolen blankets and dressed in winter clothing.

Construction work on relocation of Highway 74 here is being held in temporary abeyance in hope that the contract for it and the Highway 61 improvement can be let together, says M.S. Gwinn, division engineer for the State Highway Department; Gwinn says the department is awaiting final approval of the Highway 61 plans (south of Cape Girardeau) before letting the contract for Highway 74; since both are in the same vicinity, a considerable savings would result if the jobs could be let to the same contractor.

1923

Radio station W.S.A.B -- Southeast Missouri State Teachers College at Cape Girardeau -- gave its initial broadcast last night; the broadcast consisted of a lecture delivered by Dr. Joseph A. Serena, president of the college; the broadcasting station, located in the physics department of Science Hall, has been under construction for several months; the broadcast could be heard as far away as Benton and Sikeston, Missouri.

The Cape Girardeau City Council orders Chief of Police H.F. Wickham to deliver to the manager of the Dunnegan Contracting Co. a written order, signed by the councilmen, instructing him to place the streets in the West End sewer district in good condition; according to the contract of the company with the city, Dunnegan must repair the streets and, unless this is done, the city may start the repairs itself in five days, charging the work to the construction company; numerous complaints have been made about the streets; where the sewer ditches have been cut and filled in, some streets are nearly impassable, and traffic is impossible.

-- Sharon K. Sanders