Out of the past: Dec. 7

1999

​Melvin D. Bacon and John Power place a memorial wreath in the Mississippi River to commemorate the deaths of U.S. servicemen who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor 58 years ago; Bacon, a World War II and Korean War vet who resides at the Missouri Veterans Home here, joins members of the American Legion and VFW posts for a brief Pearl Harbor Day observance along the river in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Safety and speeding were the main reasons the Cape Girardeau City Council on Monday rejected a proposal to remove stop signs at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and Old Sprigg Street Road; the council rejected the proposal by a 6-1 vote, the lone affirmative vote coming from Councilman Frank Stoffregen.

1974

​A 1963 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, Ronald J. Lovelace, now public relations director for the St. Louis National Baseball Club, will be speaker for the university’s winter commencement exercises Dec. 15; Lovelace will address a class of 342 undergraduates and 43 graduate students.

Leonard Hall of Possum Trot Farms in the Ozark, a naturalist and writer, speaks in the evening at a banquet highlighting the Southeast Missouri Foundation for Medical Care’s first semiannual seminar for continuing education; the banquet is held at Howard Johnson’s Motor Inn, seminar headquarters.

1949

​Cape Girardeau city officials hope that construction of the two new fire stations, approved by voters at the bond election yesterday, can be started in early spring, possibly in March; they add, it will take from six to nine months to secure delivery of the new fire trucks, a portion of the equipment that will be paid for from the $165,000 in bonds approved at the election.

Fire of undetermined origin guts a large portion of the Steinborn auto agency building on Main Street in Jackson, a short distance west of Hubble Creek, at 2 a.m., inflicting damage estimated at upward of $8,000; four machines are ruined or badly damaged; the business is owned and operated by Emil H. Steinborn of Cape Girardeau, and the stucco building is owned by John V. Priest.

1924

​Capt. Charles Langley and other members of the Salvation Army corps are making arrangements to provide dinners for the poor and needy of Cape Girardeau on Christmas Day; they request those who know of families who may not have a bounteous meal on that day to furnish the names and addresses, so the Army can see to it that a basket of food and fruit is left at the homes for Christmas; following its usual custom, the Army will place kettles in the busiest business sections of the city just before Christmas, giving the public an opportunity to donate.

Cape Girardeau churches observe “Golden Rule” day; in keeping with a presidential proclamation, ministers here and across the nation devote their sermons to an explanation of the Near East Relief Work.

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.