The Normal before the fire
In a recent blog, I featured the story of the burning of the Third District Normal School in 1902. Someone then posted a comment, asking whether any photos existed of the building before the fire. The...
View ArticleBroadway corner site of numerous businesses
I'm frequently asked by customers to supply old photographs of Cape Girardeau. One image most requested is the building at the northeast corner of Broadway and Sprigg Street. That's now a lot east of...
View ArticleMother's Day roses
My life has been blessed with strong-willed women. From my mother Frances and my sisters Susan and Jean (who we lost much too soon), to Vicki and Kathy, Renda, Carol and Terri, my women friends are...
View ArticleOld ads of interest
While hunting for information for a blog, I learned that the one-time occupant of the northeast corner of Broadway and Sprigg Street was the O.O. Bowers Harness Shop. That led me to the happy discovery...
View ArticleGator hunting in Cape Girardeau
Much to the embarrassment of my family, I confess that one of my favorite television shows is "Swamp People," that History Channel program that features teams of hunters who brave poisonous snakes,...
View Article3 honored as 'presidents emeritus' of Southeast
In the 139 years Southeast Missouri State University has operated in Cape Girardeau, 16 men and one woman have served the institution as presidents. For a full list of presidents of the university, go...
View ArticleThe Lighthall Indian Sanitarium
Fred Lynch recently posted a blog detailing the history of the old building that once housed Saint Francis Hospital at the northwest corner of Sprigg and William streets --...
View ArticleFire destroys Cape Cut Rate, Cape Hotel
For many years, Cape Cut Rate drug store was located in a three-story brick building on the southwest corner of Broadway and Sprigg Street. Missourian archives show the building was constructed around...
View ArticleSugar Creek Creamery
Sugar Creek Creamery will be remembered by older residents of this area, while recent arrivals to town will be hard-pressed to place the above photo. It was taken in 1968, when National Food Stores...
View ArticleLocal Scouts attended first national jamboree
The Boy Scouts of America held its first national jamboree in July 1937 in Washington, D.C. According to Wikipedia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Scout_jamboree_%28Boy_Scouts_of_America%29 --...
View ArticleIndependence Day thoughts
Another Independence Day has come and gone. In Southeast Missouri there were plenty of opportunities to spend time with family and friends, enjoying a picnic and oohing and ahhing to fireworks...
View ArticleCape's own movie
Did you know Cape Girardeau had its own movie? I had forgotten about it, until Fred Lynch reminded me recently. The show was called -- fittingly enough -- "We're in the Movies." Sponsored by the...
View ArticlePreserving Fort A
As I do research in the files of the Southeast Missourian and Bulletin Journal newspapers, I'm often surprised to find projects that were proposed, but were never carried out. A good example of this...
View ArticleListing Cape's school superintendents
On occasion, I'll put together lists. Lists of the names of Cape Girardeau fire chiefs, police chiefs, mayors, university presidents, etc. The hard part is making sure you have all the names and their...
View ArticleIdentity of Civil War vet revealed
As WPA laborers worked to finish the restored Fort D in July 1937, a mystery presented itself: Who was the Civil War veteran who quietly visited the fortification, walked its ramparts, inspected the...
View ArticlePuzzling out the Kiel/Daues connection
There are thousands and thousands of photographs, clippings and other material filed away in the Southeast Missourian's morgue. Although I've worked for the newspaper more than 30 years, I still find...
View ArticleOlympic stars visit Cape
Since the Olympic Games recently ended, I thought you might find it interesting to read a story about an Olympian who visited Cape Girardeau in March 1977, 41 years after making history in Berlin....
View ArticleUncle Sam called John Brown in 1917
Charlie Herbst and his uncle, Bob Herbst, were kind enough to help me gather information on a relative of theirs, John Leonard Brown. What stirred my curiosity was this front-page story about Brown...
View Article3 police chiefs in one year
As the city of Cape Girardeau prepares to search for a new chief of police with the retirement of Carl Kinnison, I took the time to glance at the list of marshals and chiefs who have served this...
View ArticleNew Lorimier School opened 75 years ago
If you're a faithful reader of the "Out of the Past" column, which runs daily in the Southeast Missourian and on this web site, you've probably been following the progress of construction of the new...
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