Out of the past: May 5

1997

Seventeen people attend the Cape Girardeau City Council meeting to oppose a proposal to build a storage locker facility near a home for people with handicaps; Steve LeGrand wants to build the storage lockers at Silver Springs Road and Whitener Street.

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Investigators search the charred remains of LD Davis Lumber and Hardware Co. in Charleston trying to find the cause of a massive fire that swept through the building Thursday; the extent of damage to the 90-year-old building may prevent investigators from determining conclusively the cause of the blaze.

1972

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- For the second time in three years, William G. Goehman, Jackson High School senior, has won an award at the International Science and Engineering Fair; the Jackson youth, one of two finalists from the Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair, is named as the winner of the award of the American Psychological Association.

Burton J. Gerhardt Construction Co. completes the stucco finishing on the Broadway side of the former Idan-Ha Hotel property and should complete the Fountain Street side next week; Southern French decor, highlighted by a stucco finish and wrought iron balconies and trim, is transforming the outside of the old building; once the exterior is finished, workers will turn their efforts to the 41 apartments located on the Fountain side of the building.

1947

Leaving more rapidly than it arrived, the Mississippi River is "thinning down" here, dropping 2.4 feet over the weekend to a stage of 35.1 feet and removing all overflow from Cape Girardeau's business front with the exception of some water in the Water Street block between Themis and Independence streets; as the water recedes, street department crews have been working to wash the accumulation of mud and filth off streets and into the river.

Formal opening of the reconstructed Excelsior Furniture and Music Co. store, 533 Broadway, will be held in about two weeks, says C.W. Bauerle, head of the firm; the project has been underway about 14 months and included complete rebuilding of the three upper floors and basement of the structure.

1922

Adding incentive to do a lot of heavy hitting for the Capahas this season is offered by Kassel Brothers, Broadway jewelers; they are offering a silver loving cup to the leading batsman of the local club at the end of the season; at this point, with the season just underway, Harry Dudley is leading the Capahas with a batting average of .500.

A warranty deed, conveying several thousand acres of land in Cape Girardeau and adjoining counties to the A.J. Matthews and Co., Inc., executed by Matthews and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Caleb Matthews, Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Stubblefield, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Ferguson, Jackson B. Stubblefield, Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Stubblefield, Mr. and Mrs. Bland Stubblefield and Harold Stubblefield, has been filed for record at Jackson; the real state conveyed is listed at a value of approximately $2,270,400; the new land corporation in Southeast Missouri was organized at the request of the creditors of the different men, and all their property was turned over to the corporation.

-- Sharon K. Sanders