Out of the past: March 14

2000

​Through the efforts of staff and parents of children who attended the Easter Seals Child Development Center, the program of inclusive child care offered there will continue at a new location; the Include Me, Too! Educational Center opened yesterday in the former convent building next to St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church’s DePaul Center, the former Notre Dame High School; the church is sponsoring the child-care center and letting the convent building be used rent-free temporarily while the search continues for a permanent location.

Judith Ann Crow, 71, longtime Southeast Missourian writer and librarian, died yesterday at Fountainbleau Lodge; Crow, the daughter of Clarence A. and Alwena Bremicker Crow, worked at the newspaper 34 years, first as a researcher and advertising proofreader and later as a staff writer and librarian.

1975

​Freezing rain changes to snow as winter deals Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area its second cold, white blow in less than a week; snowfall from 1 to nearly 4 inches is reported in the area; at Cape Girardeau, 3 1/2 inches falls by 8 a.m., curbing attendance at the second day of the Southeast Missouri District Teachers Association convention at Houck Field House.

Amid harsh accusations from Jackson City Attorney Kenneth L. Waldron concerning Prosecuting Attorney A.J. Seier’s opinion on the controversial county jail matter, the City of Jackson yesterday made its most generous property offer yet to the County Court in hopes it would be accepted as a site for the long-proposed county jail; the city submitted a proposal that the county purchase its 48,139-square-foot lot bordering Washington and High streets for $1 so that a new jail “shall, with all deliberate speed, be constructed on the property…”; the proposal would not require the county to transfer property it owns containing the present jail, as an earlier even trade proposal did.

1950

​Plans for the expenditure of more than $1,000,000 in Cape Girardeau in the next two years in erecting an addition to the present headquarters building and converting to the dial system of operation is announced by the Southeast Missouri Telephone Co; Charles W. Boutin, company president, says plans will be drawn immediately for the addition to the building at Broadway and Ellis Street, with the idea of getting work underway in the fall; the new structure will house the automatic dial equipment.

The two-story business building at 725 Broadway, formerly occupied by the Littleton Shoe Co., is being prepared for an extensive remodeling program by the new owner, the Brenneisen family; the brick structure, which has a full basement, was recently purchased from Glenn Hope by L.F. Brenneisen and family; no announcement is made as to what use the building will be put.

1925

​The abandonment of Marvin College, a Methodist school at Fredericktown, will probably result in the construction in Cape Girardeau of an educational plant to be used for the students of that denomination attending the State Teachers College here, local Methodist leaders declare; the Education Commission of the Methodist Church, South, of Missouri yesterday voted to abandon and discontinue the Fredericktown junior college, dispose of the property, pay all indebtedness and use the remaining money for the welfare of Methodist students in the college here.

New postal rates will go into effect April 15, costing Cape Girardeau patrons several thousand dollars annually, it is estimated; having the quickest effect here will be one raising the cost of mailing postcards from one cent to two; the raise in rates is needed to fund the recent pay increase granted postal workers.

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.