From the archive: Cape's downtown dreamer
Here's another in the late Joni Adams' series "Profiles." Photographer Lou Peukert took several photos of Charlie Hutson, but only one was used with the article. I've interspersed several of the others...
View ArticleFrom the archive: Namesake school honors May Greene
Published May 8, 1996, in the Southeast Missourian: Dr. Bill Atchley, interim president of Southeast Missouri State University, Tuesday explained what the letter E in May Greene means to him during May...
View Article'Big Elam' Vangilder
Conversations with Dr. Frank Nickell, Cape Girardeau's unparalleled historian, tend to start with a single question and eventually meander through a variety of topics. What started as a discussion...
View ArticleHorses on stairs, flivvers on stairs
Did you ever hear the story about the inebriated man who rode a borrowed horse up the south steps of Common Pleas Courthouse Park and then reversed himself and rode the nag down the east steps? I...
View ArticleItalian immigrant John Sciortino
John Sciortino (Elroy Kinder photo ~ Southeast Missourian archive) The section of Cape Girardeau known as Haarig -- the Good Hope Street area -- is historically thought of as being the German section...
View ArticleAnna Weise Bruihl was the first to dance at the Common Pleas
One of the earliest views of Cape Girardeau is this line drawing, which came from a circa 1870 magazine. It shows Themis Street at the riverfront, with the Common Pleas Courthouse — devoid of its...
View ArticleRocket planes land at Cape airfield
In what may have been the first instance of jet planes landing at what is now Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, two P-80 jet-propelled Army aircraft landed at former Harris Field on May 24, 1946. The...
View ArticleWilliam H. Escue and White Mule
What do William H. Escue and White Mule have in common? Not a thing, except for articles about each that appeared in 1921 in consecutive editions of the Southeast Missourian. So, even though there's no...
View Article'Baby show' finds homes for children
Over the years, I've been asked repeatedly about what happened to orphans throughout Cape Girardeau's history. Parent-less children often were sent to live with relatives. This happened to my...
View ArticleOrphan trains: Solving NYC's child homeless problem
Last week's blog focused on a 1914 "Baby Show" held in Cape Girardeau to place orphans from the Missouri Home Finding Society in St. Louis with local families. From the articles published at the time,...
View ArticleMissouri's political pot boiled over in 1971
Articles about politics in the early Southeast Missourian newspapers frequently referred to "stirrings of the political pot." It meant that people were beginning to think about who would make good...
View Article1858 Capitol View of Cape Girardeau
Capital View of Cape Girardeau. Color lithograph by Charles Robyn and Co., St. Louis, ca. 1858. (Wikipedia commons) The above image has been reproduced several times in the pages of the Southeast...
View ArticleCousin's log home razed
Bartholomew Cousin, secretary of the Cape Girardeau's founder, Louis Lorimier, may be one of the town's greatest mystery men. From his long-missing will, the contents of which were quoted by earlier...
View ArticleJudge Marybelle Mueller's legacy
As Judge Marybelle Mueller neared her retirement in October 1994, she sat down with Southeast Missourian managing editor Joni Adams to discuss her career. Adams transformed the interview into one of...
View Article1971 series features Oran
My family has deep ties to Scott County, Missouri, specifically to Commerce on Dad's side and New Hamburg and Oran on Mom's. So when the story below popped up as I was doing research, I took a special...
View ArticleStorm takes the roof off of Burfordville bridge, destroys airport hangar
Living in Southeast Missouri, we're used to the occasional summer storms that terrorize our nights and damage our buildings. But an electrical storm in July 1971 is memorable for two things: Strong...
View ArticleMore about the July 1971 storm
Last week's blog provided the main story published in the Southeast Missourian concerning the fierce electrical and wind storm that blew through Southeast Missouri on July 15, 1971. Mentioned in that...
View ArticleThe modern features of May Greene School
May Greene School, 1929. (Southeast Missourian archive) Before I moved to downtown Cape Girardeau and began voting at City Hall, I lived in South Cape and cast my ballots in the lobby of May Greene...
View ArticleThe friendly town of Marble Hill
In Stephen Robertson's eighth article in his series featuring local towns, he visited Marble Hill in July 1971. He followed that up a couple months later by producing a feature on Marble Hill's...
View ArticleClose call for Girardean
Sixteen years before the fiery, fatal crash of the Hindenburg, the giant dirigible ZR-2 -- then the largest airship ever built -- broke apart in the skies above Hull, England, as it was undergoing...
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