Out of the past: Dec. 8

1999

Those wanting to welcome the new millennium loudly got a little help from the Cape Girardeau City Council Monday night; council members passed a resolution allowing fireworks to be discharged for one hour on New Year’s Eve, from 11:30 p.m. Dec. 31 to 12:30 a.m. Jan. 1; the problem revelers may have is where to purchase fireworks in December.

MARBLE HILL – Robert W. Gray, 60, of Grassy has been appointed to the Bollinger County Commission; Gray will serve as First District commissioner, filling the vacancy created by the death of Jerry Woodfin.

1974

Members of Concordia Lutheran Church of Frohna celebrate the 100th anniversary of their church building; Dr. J.A.O. Prues, president of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, speaks at the anniversary service in the morning, while the Rev. Albert Eichelberger, pastor, is liturgist; although the church structure was erected in 1874, the congregation dates to 1839, when German immigrants from Saxony settled in the area.

For the fourth consecutive year, the United Way in Cape Girardeau has gone “over the top”; contributions yesterday sent total collections in this year’s campaign to a record $133,335.52; the 1974 goal was $133,300.

1949

Jack Wimp, procurement officer at State College, has been elected commander of the Louis K. Juden Post of the American Legion, succeeding Sanford G. Jones, who was recently drowned while returning from a hunting trip; Wimp was elevated from the place of first vice commander to head the organization.

Officials of the Southeast Missouri Baptist Foundation have set March 1, 1950, as completion date for the $75,000 annex to the Foundation Building, 465 N. Pacific St.; it will be used first at the opening of the State College spring term; construction of the annex is progressing in its final stages; at present plasterers are at work, and electricians are installing wiring; the furnace is being installed as well.

1924

Two representatives of American Insurance Co., with headquarters in St. Louis, flew to Cape Girardeau in an airplane yesterday afternoon, spent an hour here adjusting a claim on an automobile burned in a recent fire, and returned with the intention of reaching St. Louis in time for the evening meal; the two made the trip here in one hour and 15 minutes flying time; unable to land near Cape Girardeau because of low-hanging fog, they brought their plane to the ground on the Robert Keller farm on Bloomfield Road, three miles southwest of the city, and drove to town.

The new Marquette School, recently erected by Marquette Cement Co., for the Rock Levee School District, will be dedicated Sunday afternoon; the new school on South Kingshighway was completed late in the summer and was opened Oct. 6; teachers at the school are Isa Hammonds and Margaret Hood.

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.