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From the Morgue
The Southeast Missourian's resident historian Sharon K. Sanders blogs about interesting pieces of local history pulled from the newspaper's morgue -- the place where our old editions are kept.
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Thad Stubbs calls it a career
Posted Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at 12:00 AM1For a business that operated in Cape Girardeau for 43 years -- on Broadway, no less -- there is very little in the files of the Southeast Missourian documenting Stubbs' Beer Garden. Located on the north side of the 1700 block of Broadway, the business started out as a root beer stand and grew into a tavern that catered to factory workers... -
The Doyle house succumbs to 'progress'
Posted Tuesday, July 2, 2024, at 12:00 AMThe Doyle house, facing east, was at the southwest corner of Broadway and Lorimier Street. (Kassel Studio ~ Southeast Missourian archive)... -
Mapping the recovery from the 1949 tornado
Posted Tuesday, June 25, 2024, at 12:00 AMAt 6:56 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 1949, Cape Girardeau was struck by a tornado. Here are some statistics that demonstrate the destruction inflicted on this community of about 21,500: 22 persons killed; 72 persons treated at local hospitals;... -
Missourian survey demonstrates residents' indomitable spirit after 1949 tornado
Posted Tuesday, June 18, 2024, at 12:00 AM2Twenty years after the May 21, 1949, tornado, the Southeast Missourian newspaper published an article by managing editor John L. Blue recalling the events of that Saturday that left Cape Girardeau shattered and 22 of its inhabitants dead. He related how he and other reporters and a photographer the night of the storm explored the path of the tornado, collected the names of the dead and those hospitalized with injuries, and produced an extra that was delivered to the newspaper's readers the following morning.. ... -
Ptlm. Boyd reads to youngsters
Posted Tuesday, June 11, 2024, at 12:00 AM21974 has yielded a number of blogs for me in recent weeks. This latest one was published June 2 and tells of then Ptlm. Howard H. Boyd Jr. attempting to read a book about a garbage man to a group of youngsters during the public library's story hour at Courthouse Park. Apparently, the children were more interested in Boyd and his uniform than they were in the story... -
Eddie Moss at Cape Civic Center
Posted Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at 12:00 AMIn the same edition that carried the feature story about Curtis Clymer and his riverboat models from last week's blog, a second article in the sports section caught my eye. The same photographer — Rick Morein — took pictures for both articles, but the sport story was the work of one of my favorite Missourian writers, Sam Blackwell. The subject of the story: Eddie Moss and pain... -
Curtis Clymer's boat models
Posted Tuesday, May 28, 2024, at 12:00 AMAs a kid growing up in South Cape, I spent my summers helping my parents in the garden, mostly growing tomatoes, and working on models of sailing ships. The more complicated the rigging, the better... -
A family connection to the 1949 tornado
Posted Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at 12:00 AMFor most of my life, I didn’t know that my family suffered any loss in the tornado that devastated Cape Girardeau on May 21, 1949. My parents, Louis and Frances Sanders, weren’t married yet. Mom was still living with her parents, Raymond and Clara Glaus Stehr, in their home in the 1200 block of South Sprigg Street. That was well away from the path of the twister... -
Piasa or Bald Eagle?
Posted Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at 12:00 AMOld postcards provide us with images of bygone days. Even the colorized versions of old photographs help preserve history. But there is a danger that more recent postcards featuring reproductions of early events may contain erroneous information, since they were printed years afterward. I believe that is what happened with the postcard below, leaving us with a question: Is the first boat pictured the Bald Eagle or the Piasa?... -
Ever wonder what became of science fair winners?
Posted Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at 12:00 AMWinners in the Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair, accompanied by their instructors and officials of the annual event, departed by plane Tuesday, May 5, 1959, for the National Science Fair in Hartford, Connecticut. Shown as they prepared to board a Central Airways plane are, from the left, Corona Jansen, Sister Jean Ann and Sister DeLellis of Cape Girardeau Catholic High, James Singleton of Cape Girardeau Central High, pilot Arthur Woolson of Centralia, Illinois, pilot John Higgins of Cape Girardeau, professor E.L. ... -
St. Louis architect named to design new Missourian building
Posted Tuesday, April 30, 2024, at 12:00 AMI recently produced a blog about the christening of the third steamer Cape Girardeau in 1924. Among the passengers who sailed on the boat’s maiden voyage from St. Louis to the christening in Cape Girardeau were St. Louis Mayor Henry W. Kiel; Judge Charles H. Daues of the St. Louis Court of Appeals, a native of Cape Girardeau, and artist/architect Thomas P. Barnett... -
Writing parking tickets with a friendly smile
Posted Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at 12:00 AM2From the description of Sgt. John Hayden in a 1974 Southeast Missourian article, I get the impression he applied the “Sheriff Andy Taylor” approach to policing. Andy, of course, was Andy Griffith’s character in the 1960s television show that bore his name... -
Mayor Ford, Kiwanis light up Capaha Park's diamond
Posted Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at 12:00 AM1Night baseball came to Cape Girardeau's Capaha Park in 1949, with the Kiwanis Club leading the way to fund the installation of the lights, as well as the replacement of the old, wooden grandstand . This photo was taken in 1957. (G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)... -
The rise and fall of Capaha Park's wooden grandstand
Posted Tuesday, April 9, 2024, at 12:00 AMA postcard image of the Cape Girardeau Fairgrounds, now Capaha Park, shows a huge crowd seated in the grandstand and on the grassy bank to the south during an early flying demonstration. The photo is undated. (Southeast Missourian archive)... -
Death of Judge Pat Dyer, prosecutor of the famous peonage case here in 1906
Posted Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at 12:00 AM2One of the first bits of research I recall doing for someone outside the Southeast Missourian office after being hired by the newspaper four decades ago concerned something known as the "famous peonage case". That was the first research I did for the late Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr., but not the last... -
A third steamer Cape Girardeau was christened 100 years ago
Posted Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at 12:00 AMIn last week’s blog, I brought you a description of the christening of the Eagle Packet Company’s first riverboat named for Cape Girardeau. The CG1 was anointed with a bottle of champagne on Saturday, June 29, 1901, by Lucille Leech. The packet boat served the St. ... -
Cape Girardeau christens its namesake
Posted Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at 12:00 AMThe first steamboat the Eagle Packet Co. of St. Louis named for Cape Girardeau started its life as the War Eagle. It was built in 1899 by the company, owned by the Leyhe family, expressly to serve the Cape Girardeau and Commerce trade. It had operated only a year, however, when bad luck struck. The boat caught fire at the St. Louis wharf and its upper decks were burned off... -
The humanist philosophy of Lester Mondale
Posted Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 12:00 AM1Four years before his more famous half-brother became vice president of the United States in the Jimmy Carter administration, Lester Mondale left his Madison County log home to visit Cape Girardeau. Here, he spoke at the 1973 Humanities Forum at Southeast Missouri State University... -
Cape Osteopathic Hospital opens its doors
Posted Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at 12:00 AMWhen considering the history of medicine in Cape Girardeau, the founding of Saint Francis Medical Center in 1875 and Southeast Hospital (now Mercy Hospital Southeast) in 1928 come to mind. A third hospital opened its doors in Cape Girardeau in 1949, but it is hardly ever talked about: Cape Osteopathic Hospital. It operated in the former residence of John L. Miller at the southwest corner of Spanish and Merriwether streets for 20 years... -
8 killed and a million dollars damage done in 1924 tornado
Posted Tuesday, February 27, 2024, at 12:00 AM1The Cape Girardeau tornadoes of 1850 and 1949 in Cape Girardeau, as well as those in Jackson in 1923 and 2003, are well remembered by local residents. Anniversary stories and photographs have served to help us preserve those terrible events...
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