Out of the past: March 4

1999

Southeast Missouri can claim its share of the 5,000 inductees in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame: Billy Swan of "I Can Help" fame, Narvel "Reconsider Me" Felts and Dennis "Lover Please" Turner; the newest inductee is Louis "Lou" Hobbs, the 57-year-old Cape Girardeau singer-guitarist who has been a fixture on the local music scene for a long time.

The state's Black lawmakers have gone to bat for Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus project; the endorsement by Missouri's Black caucus comes as the university continues to lobby for state funding for the project; Southeast officials hope Gov. Mel Carnahan will revise his proposed capital budget and recommend some level of state funding for the arts campus this year.

1974

Streakers at Southeast Missouri State University have joined what appears to be a wave of nude bodies running through college campuses and communities across the country; three men were reported last week running down Broadway in the buff, but they donned clothes quickly at the arrival of police officers and blended back into the community; a streaker was also reported to have run down North Henderson and across Broadway, making a return trip to a location around Myers Hall; and it isn't just men streaking; there have been reports of SEMO coeds attempting to outdo their male counterparts.

A 42-year-old Cape Girardeau business -- Logan's Nursery and Landscaping Service, 1631 Independence St. -- is going out of business; the grounds will be taken over by Missouri Utilities Co.; the business began as a hobby of a former Southeast Missouri State University agriculture professor, James C. Logan, and mushroomed into a major area nursery operated by his son, James W. Logan.

1949

Cape Girardeau police are investigating a mysterious blast that rocked the west part of town at 10:30 p.m. yesterday; officers are told that two men detonated what seemed to be a type of bomb somewhere in the area between the Colonial Tavern and the Seven-Up bottling plant on Kingshighway; there was no damage done.

A crowd of 133 school patrons from Oak Ridge and adjoining districts listened attentively last night to professor A.C. Magill explain the plan to reorganize the rural schools of Cape Girardeau County; under the plan, Oak Ridge High School -- said to be the oldest high school west of the Mississippi River -- would be closed.

1924

Leading building contractors of Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Illmo, after meeting last night, say they are opposed to a proposed increase of 25 cents per hour in the wage scales of bricklayers, plasterers and carpenters; contractors claim these workers are now being paid above the average wages in the United States; in other action at the meeting, the Southeast Missouri Builders' Association was organized, and J.W. Gerhardt was elected president.

Louis Hecht clears out the last of the Lewis Department Store stock, and the building -- for many years known as the Sherman Store -- has been turned over to the J.C. Penny Co., which operates general merchandise stores throughout the country; Penny will have the building remodeled and furnished and will start in business here as soon as possible.

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.