Out of the past: March 2

2000

Affordable housing might be easier to find in Southeast Missouri following an announcement by the Missouri Housing Development Commission of funding for 43 projects across the state, including $13.4 million in housing tax credits; a project that would result in a 48-unit apartment complex on the site of old Saint Francis Hospital receives more than $600,000 in combined tax-credit assistance from the federal and state governments.

Plans were revealed yesterday for a large mural to be painted on the inside of the Mississippi River floodwall; it will extend from north of the Broadway floodgate south to Independence Street; plans for the 60-panel, historically-themed mural were announced by Tim Blattner of the River Heritage Mural Association.

1975

Colletti’s, an authentic Italian restaurant operated by a family that has long been in the food business, has opened in the old Idan-Ha Hotel building at Broadway and Fountain Street; Mr. and Mrs. R.C. Colletti and their son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Colletti, are operating the business; the family was in the restaurant business eight years in Chester, Illinois, and the past 18 years in Carbondale, Illinois.

Plans are announced by David Patrick for a new building to be constructed at 1809 N. Kingshighway; the building, to be erected by Sides Construction Co., will house a specialty retail furniture store; the land, purchased from Ruby Farrow, will also include a dwelling to be occupied by Patrick and his family.

1950

President W.W. Parker of State College is notified by a telegram from the White House of his appointment to fill one of the three-year vacancies on the Board of Visitors to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York; the board is charged with a visit to the academy annually in April for an inspection tour which includes inquiries into the curriculum, physical equipment, academic methods, etc.

The old John Bartman property at the northwest corner of Themis and Pacific streets is being razed by F.X. Roth, its owner, to make way for a new combined business and apartment building; workers have already begun tearing down the structure, built about 1868, and altered somewhat in the 82 years since; Bartman was a cooper, and his shop was adjacent to the house.

1925

Cape Girardeau County is one of the four counties in Missouri which doesn’t formally assist in the maintenance and operation of its Farm Bureau, says Paul B. Naylor, extension agent for the College of Agriculture, University of Missouri; 49 counties in the state have farm bureaus, and 45 of these are supported, at least in part, by county court appropriations; while Cape Girardeau County was the first in the state to establish a farm bureau, its county court recently refused to fund it.

Establishment of a new sewer district on the south side of Cape Girardeau to serve those property holders not now getting the advantage of the West End sewer is discussed informally by the City Council; the West End district serves property on the west side of Sprigg Street to Maple; all property east of Sprigg and south of Morgan Oak Street is without sanitary sewer service.

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.