Out of the past: May 21

1994

Long-time Cape Girardeau Central High School coach and teacher Mark Ruark has been named one of two new assistant principals for Central High; joining him as assistant principal is Bill Biggerstaff, principal at Chaffee (Missouri) High School; the new principal at the school, Dan Tallent, helped select his assistants.

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Department has awarded a $319,000 contract to Penzel Construction Co. of Jackson for bridge joint repair and overlay work on several Southeast Missouri bridges later this summer; some work on Interstate 55 bridges may result in delays to motorists.

1969

Twenty years ago today, at 6:56 p.m., a tornado struck Cape Girardeau, claiming the lives of 22 persons here.

Commissioners to assess damages in the condemnation suits for Interstate 55 right of way will appear in Circuit Court on June 3 to receive their instructions; commissioners named by the court yesterday are James Jones, Garland Powell and Vince Howard; the State Highway Department is condemning 27 tracts of land to complete right of way acquisition on the 13.633-mile stretch of I-55 to run from Fruitland to the Perry County line.

1944

Should the new post office not be built on the site where Common Pleas Courthouse now stands, and the city should not get the present post office building in exchange for the park site, it would be a great monetary loss to the city, says Mayor Raymond E. Beckman; Federal Judge Rubey H. Hulen on Friday dismissed the condemnation suit of the government to acquire the park site for a new post office building; Beckman says the city would have gotten a building worth $150,000 had the proposed trade gone through; he points out the Common Pleas is in a bad state of repair.

New McKendree Methodist Church at Jackson has two guest speakers; Dr. A.J. Rasche of Cape Girardeau, lay leader for the Cape Girardeau district, speaks at the morning hour, and at the evening hour, the Rev. Robert C. Holliday, district superintendent, delivers the sermon.

1919

Leo "Beenie" Bruening has quit the shoe factory and gone back to his old trade of tailoring; Bruening has taken over the old Brodtmann stand in the rear of the Seehausen saloon on Broadway and will do a general business of cleaning, repairing and pressing at present; later he will add a line of samples for tailoring.

Gov. F.D. Gardner signs the bill changing the name of the State Normal Schools to State Teachers Colleges; the Normal at Cape Girardeau by this bill becomes the Southeast Missouri State Teachers College.

-- Sharon K. Sanders