Out of the past: Nov. 18

1999

Ken Lipps hopes his Cape Girardeau roots and a good dose of honesty will help him in a bid for City Council; Lipps, director of volunteer services at the Missouri Veterans Home, is seeking a seat on the council representing Ward 4; he is only the second person to file for city council; Jay Purcell, who represents the city's Ward 3, filed for re-election on Oct. 26.

Warm weather has delayed the annual migration of Canada geese to Southern Illinois; while the first flock of geese arrived in Union County Sept 21, it was small; overall, only 6,000 geese were counted this week in the Southern Illinois quota zone of Alexander, Union, Williamson and Jackson counties and the Rend Lake zone.

1974

There will soon be a couple of new gourmet restaurants in Cape Girardeau; final work is being done on La Grotto Azzurra, the old Airline property, which has blossomed into a show place and will provide the public with fine Italian cuisine; the other is Port Cape Girardeau, to be housed on three levels in one of the city’s older commercial buildings at the southwest corner of Water and Themis streets; Dave Knight, president of David B. Knight and Associates, developers of the property, is hoping for a pre-Christmas opening; Larry Foote will be manager, assisted by his wife, Mary.

A new city ordinance permitting trains to travel up to 50 miles per hour through Scott City is authorized by the City Council; the council instructs city attorney Tom Arnold to prepare the ordinance after taking action to abolish the present ordinance restricting trains speeds to 10 miles an hour in Scott City; however, the new ordinance won’t become effective until signalization of railroad crossings in the town is complete.

1949

The American White Cross Laboratories, 1 College St., is threatened by fire in the morning, when a blaze breaks out in the re-carding room; however, only a hole is burned in the wall and the floor 12 inches in diameter; cause of the fire is unknown.

Bids are being received for an extensive remodeling program for the second floor of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce building in the 200 block of Broadway; Weir M. Barcus, Chamber manager, estimates the entire program will cost $6,000; the plan calls for the relocation of the staircase leading to the second floor and the re-arrangement of the second-floor rooms; in addition, the entire floor will be modernized and new restroom facilities installed.

1924

W.P. McGeorge & Co., contractors, will complete the paving on Themis Street tomorrow, the last of its contracts here, which, during the past six months, have involved the expenditure of nearly $96,000; that figure doesn’t include paving contracts with other companies, which is expected to bring the total to $135,000; the work this summer on Themis has improved that street from Main to Spanish and from Pacific to Benton.

In response to a joint invitation from the faculty and Parent-Teachers Organization of Cape Girardeau Central High School, around 300 parents attend a session of “back to school” in the evening; the parents go from classroom to classroom, following the class schedules of their children.

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.