Out of the past: Sept. 15

1997

The Missouri Department of Transportation plans to take a closer look at the Highway 34 corridor as a possible route for a proposed interstate highway; the state's Highways and Transportation Commission has authorized the agency to do a location and environmental study of Highway 34, between Cape Girardeau and Van Buren.

It doesn't look like a school yet -- it could pass for a warehouse under construction -- but it's certainly bigger than the building the Eagle Ridge Christian School occupies today; it is hoped pupils will be able to move into the building by the beginning of the next semester; the new school is being built at 4210 Route K, a mile west of Interstate 55.

1972

The wheat sales to Red China and the Soviet Union have prompted more talk than action in Cape Girardeau County, but only because nearly all the wheat was already gone and not much action could be taken; in the span of little more than two months, the price available to county farmers for wheat has risen from an average of $1.30 to $1.90 per bush; a few farmers, those with significant amounts of wheat stored, have been able to take advantage of it, but mostly farmers missed the boat by selling too soon.

Cooler temperatures moved into Cape Girardeau overnight, as the weatherman promised sunny skies for a weekend packed with activities at the SEMO District Fair; one of the largest crowds on record attended the fair yesterday, Cape Girardeau Day; rain begins falling at the fairgrounds shortly before noon today, but hundreds of children and their parents are at Arena Park and thousands are expected before this All Counties Day at the fair is over.

1947

The 1947 SEMO District Fair joins its long line of predecessors in the history files as workers begin removing the debris littering the new city park, while officials, tabulating the attendance of the week, find a decline from last year, but still an increase over the 1945 exhibition; total paid attendance at the fair was 24,919, exclusive of the hundreds of children who were admitted without charge and others who had passes.

William C. Kaempfer, 61, city clerk of Cape Girardeau for 21 years, dies at Veterans' Hospital at Jefferson Barracks, where he had been a patient since April; earlier this year, Kaempfer asked that he be made deputy city clerk; the City Council complied, appointing him to that position, while elevating Verna Lee Landis, his assistant, to the clerkship.

1922

The Frisco Railroad, which operates its line through Cape Girardeau, is not yet a party to the agreement voted in Chicago on Wednesday by which striking shopmen will return to work on a number of roads; no separate peace is now considered, it is said; from 50 to 75% of the striking shopmen have been replaced on the line; the strike is over, as far as the Frisco is concerned; officers of the company say they have a sufficient force to operate efficiently and that new employees are being hired; on the Cotton Belt, which operates through Illmo and Fornfelt, 1,099 men are now doing the work of the 2,000 who walked out.

Construction work on a general electric system that will ultimately include every town in Southeast Missouri, with power to be supplied from central plants at Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff, has been started; the first line to be constructed will be from Poplar Bluff to Essex and Morehouse, the latter place already being in the circuit with the Cape Girardeau plant; both the Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff plants will be enlarged to take care of the extra work load.

-- Sharon K. Sanders