Out of the past: Dec. 4

1999

The Missouri Department of Transportation says an experienced bridge contractor will be hired to construct the main span of the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge at Cape Girardeau; MoDOT says it will consider bids only from general contractors who have experience building bridges on the Mississippi, Missouri or Ohio rivers; bids are slated to be opened in February and the contract awarded in March for the main section of bridge work, including the main piers, the cable-supported span, the bridge deck and lighting.

The planned Dec. 11 move into Blanchard Elementary School, which has been plagued by construction delays, has been pushed back again; superintendent Dr. Dan Steska is uncertain when teachers and staff will be moving into the building, but the target date is now Dec. 18.

1974

A concrete plan for the long-awaited replacement bridge over Sloan’s Creek on Bend Road (Highway 177) is expected to be laid tonight as designs and specifications come before the City Council for possible approval and authorization of bids; the narrow concrete bridge now over Sloan’s Creek in the Red Star area was closed last December after being damaged by 1973 spring floods and heavy rains the following fall.

Robert F. Hemperley Jr. has been elected the new president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce for 1975; other officers are Paul L. Ebaugh, vice president; Walter J. Ford, second vice president, and Walter S. Drusch, treasurer.

1949

Eugene List, the brilliant young pianist who introduced Shostakovich to American audiences, gives a concert in the afternoon at State College auditorium; it is the first concert of the Community Concert Association’s winter series, and the first set for a Sunday afternoon; List is the American soldier who won the plaudits of Truman, Churchill and Stalin at Potsdam in the summer of 1945.

Martha Gibson of Jefferson City, general secretary of the Christian Women’s Missionary Council of Missouri, is the guest speaker at a special “Women’s Day” service at First Christian Church in the morning, conducted by the Women’s Council; Mrs. Jett M. Jenkins, president, presides and is assisted by officers of the council and of the Missionary Circles.

1924

The Cape Girardeau Teachers College Board of Regents yesterday approved a budget totaling $626,900 for the operation of the college for the next biennial period; included is a request for $125,000 for the construction on a new gymnasium and for the purchase of an athletic field.

Charging that the court had reversed itself on a previous decision and that its decision was in direct conflict with state statutes, Cape Girardeau city attorney Rush H. Limbaugh, in a motion for a re-hearing of the appeal of the city in a suit against the Frisco Railroad in the shops case, files in the State Supreme Court; the move is the first made by the city attorney following the adverse decision of the court a week ago, in which the Missouri Supreme Court decided that the question of a contract between the city and railroad isn’t for it to debate, but is a question for the Missouri Public Service Commission.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a weekend column called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper.