Out of the past: Sept. 15

1995

Talk to a native Cape Girardean about the SEMO District Fair and he'll inevitably say two things: It always rains during fair week and it always turns cooler; this year's event has seen a few sprinkles and one brief downpour, but the weather is drawing people out, not keeping them home; advertising chairman Steve Engles says the first half of fair week was one of the busiest ever; when the fair closed Wednesday night, Engles estimated 52,500 people had visited so far; the attendance record stands at 115,816 in 1984.

The Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Laboratory is looking for a new home because of increased scientific police work and the university's plan to tear down its building on North Henderson Avenue; the lab serves law enforcement agencies in 20 counties of Southeast Missouri, including the Missouri Highway Patrol.

1970

A surprising decrease in enrollment in Cape Girardeau's public schools forces the Board of Education to table plans for a referendum next month on a proposed $1.5 million bond issue to finance construction of a new middle school; the district's enrollment as of yesterday was 5,520, a decrease of 144 from a year ago.

Hundreds of exhibitors and viewers flock to Arena Park for the opening of the 1970 SEMO District Fair; entertaining before the grandstand in the evening will be a garden tractor rodeo, followed by a tractor-pulling contest.

1945

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Haverporth, who came here from Illmo, and their daughter-in-law, Mrs. Billie Shetley, who has managed several city and out-of-town restaurants, have taken over the duties of managers of the County Club; they succeed Mr. and Mrs. M.M. Moralee, who left last month to make their home in Marion, Illinois.

A company that originally planned to erect a poultry plant on the Hurst lot near Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Jackson is now reported to have contracted with the Cramer heirs for a part of the triangle-shaped land lying between Highway 61 and the Old Cape Road; property owners near the Hurst lot had protested the location of the plant and filed a remonstrance with the City Council.

1920

A new gate to the county fairgrounds has been opened on the Perryville Road; it opens an ideal parking place for automobiles, and town people will do well to use it; the grove west of the race track makes a shady place for parking cars, and it is but a short walk to the grandstand.

Visitors to the Cape Girardeau County Fair from the country south of Cape Girardeau will find the Rock Levee Road closed at a point near the Frisco railroad tracks, and it will be necessary for them to use the "back" road; signs have been erected so no confusion will result; Cape Girardeau Township is starting work on its first concrete highway; once completed, the highway will be concreted across Cape County from the Cape-Scott County line to the Perry County line on the north.

-- Sharon K. Sanders