Out of the past: Sept. 9

1998

Banker and former Jackson Planning and Zoning Commission chairman Larry Hall is the new member of the Jackson Board of Aldermen; lauding Hall's "experience and common-sense qualities," Mayor Paul Sander made the appointment last night, which the board unanimously approved; Hall takes the Ward 4 seat formerly occupied by Jack Piepenbrok, who resigned last week after 11 1/2 years on the board.

The Cape Girardeau City Council last night approved a special-use permit for construction of a Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall on Lexington Avenue; the request for the permit was made by Ruth A. and Earl H. Norman and the North Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.

1973

The Rev. Richard A. Eissfeldt, director of the Lutheran Family and Children's Services, has announced the agency is now open at 833 Broadway and is providing the first full-time counseling service in Southeast Missouri; Eissfeldt became director of LFCS July 1, after final approval of the plan was made and area churches had pledged to provide some financial support; Eissfeldt is an accredited social worker and came to Cape Girardeau from a similar position in California.

The 40th annual service at Old McKendree Chapel is held in the afternoon commemorating the 164th year of the organization of the church and the 154th year of the building of the chapel; Dr. Robert E. Goodrich Jr., bishop of the Missouri Area of the United Methodist Church, delivers the sermon; erected in 1819, the log church is believed to be the oldest Methodist church west of the Mississippi River.

1948

After a two-year wait while enough steel was accumulated to assure completion of the structure, workers have begun erecting the trusses for the Erlbacher garage building on Broadway, east of Henderson Avenue; foundations for the structure were poured long ago, shortly after the old Adams house was razed to make way for the large garage; but construction was forced to halt because of a lack of steel; Eddie Erlbacher is having the structure built; it will be occupied by the Homer Millikan Motor Co. and the Waller Motor Co.

Arena Park is humming with activities as concessionaires put up their stands, departmental superintendents ready floral hall for the numerous club and individual exhibits, and the finishing touches are given the grounds, preparatory to the opening on Monday of the SEMO District Fair; many tents are mushrooming over the grounds, and more tents, materials and supplies continue to arrive by truck; workers are laboring in virtually all sections of the park.

1923

In the absence of the rector, no services are held at Christ Episcopal Church; the Rev. and Mrs. J.H. Taylor are expected to return to Cape Girardeau next week; they have been spending their vacation in Charleston, South Carolina; an operation to remove the adenoids and tonsils of their daughter, Jean Wilson, will be performed in St. Louis before they return home Wednesday.

A cannon shell, believed to be a relic of Civil War days, was dug up yesterday on Independence Street between West End Boulevard and Louisiana Avenue by employees of the Dunnegan Construction Co. installing a sewer on that street; the shell, which is round and made of iron, was found 11 feet below the surface of the earth; it is believed the shell is a souvenir of the battle growing out of the attack of Gen. John Marmaduke on Cape Girardeau in 1863.

-- Sharon K. Sanders