Out of the past: Jan. 21

2000

A Chicago company, Abbey Manufacturing, has purchased the former Florsheim Shoe plant in Cape Girardeau and will employ 40 to 50 workers, some of them ex-Florsheim employees, to make shoes.

SIKESTON — A small explosive device did minor damage to a fast-food restaurant in Sikeston on Wednesday; the crude, homemade explosive left indentations in a wall outside the Taco Bell at 1413 E. Malone about 10:45 p.m.; no one was injured.

1975

​In what ended in an emotional presentation, a Jackson man urged County Court judges Monday not to be influenced by pressures surrounding the question of location of a new county jail, but to resolve the matter quickly and get the jail under construction; “We are not one bit further along today than when we started talking about it, and all that we’ve done is a lot of damn talking,” said Sewell S. Wood, a retired driver; Wood concluded, “If you live up to your oath of office, you can get this thing done. Let’s settle on something and quit keeping this thing boiling.”

Five individuals billed as among the finest citizens of the community received Cape Girardeau Jaycee-sponsored awards last night at the 34th annual Distinguished Service Award-Bosses Night Banquet; the coveted Distinguished Service Award went to Dennis Henson; other award winners were Clarence Lee Shirrell, Boss of the Year; Martha Howell, Outstanding Young Educator; David W. Schwab, Outstanding Young Farmer, and John “Doc” Yallaly, Physical Fitness Leadership Award.

1950

​The Cape Girardeau City Council has invited owners of abutting property to meet with it Feb. 6 to consider the repaving of 1 1/2 block of South Sprigg Street near the Morgan Oak Street intersection; the invitation is extended after several of the property owners voiced opposition to the proposal; new pavement would be laid from the east-west alley at the Braun Market and Lesem Tire Co., corner to Jefferson Avenue; the city and Cape Special Road District are to share in the cost, estimated at $7,000.

A statement from the Army Engineers at Memphis, Tennessee, carries an implied warning to evacuated residents of the Birds Point-New Madrid Spillway that it would be prudent if they bide their time before returning home.

1925

​The Cape Girardeau City Council has granted A.H. Haas a license to build a filling station, in connection with a new garage, at Good Hope and Ellis streets; property owners in the area consenting to the construction include Farmers and Merchants Bank, John G. Meystedt, Charles Selle, Charles F. Fluhrer, Selma Hirsch, Saint Francis Hospital, William Reiser, Joe F. Stammer, Alma Wagner, Laura Hanebrink, G.H. Gross, August Bohnsack, A.J. Ueleke, Otto Schlegel, A.S. Lampe, Joseph Haas, A. Sander, Riverside Lumber Co., Fred Steimle, Lawrence Rush, Will Hirsch and Caroline Ruppert.

B.G. Shackleford, for more than 12 years professor of physics at the old State Normal School here, will deliver the graduating address for Cape Girardeau Central High School on Friday night at the school auditorium; Shackleford taught here from 1903 to 1916, when he left to assume the assistant superintendency of the St. Louis public schools, which post he now holds.

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.