REGION CHANGES TO MAKE WAY FOR NEW ERA DURING TURBULENT '60s, '70s

Less than two months before his assassination in Los Angeles, New York Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy took time away from campaigning in the Indiana primary to visit Cape Girardeau.

On April 15, 1968, just 41 days before his death, Kennedy made a campaign visit to Cape Girardeau's Town Plaza where nearly 6,000 people crowded the parking lot in one of the largest political rallies ever held in Southeast Missouri.

It was estimated that an additional 2,000 people lined the route from the Cape Girardeau airport to catch a glimpse of the famous senator.

Former state Sen. Albert Spradling Jr., who along with former U. S. Attorney Jeff Lance and former Cape Girardeau County Democratic chairman Edward Downs, worked at bringing Kennedy to town, said at the time Kennedy had "consented to test himself in a hostile conservative area, and he came out real well."

Later that year, Kennedy was shot and killed after declaring victory in the California primary. The day after his death, a cross was erected on the platform where Kennedy stood to speak in Cape Girardeau. "Robert Kennedy -- His Voice Still Echoes Here," the memorial read.

Kennedy was not the only political figure to visit Cape Girardeau that year. In September, third-party presidential candidate George Wallace spoke at Arena Park. In October, Republican vice-presidential candidate Spiro Agnew campaigned in the city.

Local politics during the 1960s and `70s saw a succession of several one-term mayors in Cape Girardeau. After Walter Ford stepped down in 1964, six men were elected to the city's top post, each serving only two years.

Then, in 1970, Howard Tooke became mayor, holding the position until 1978. He returned to the position in 1981 and held the job until 1986.

During Tooke's tenure in the 1970s, the city saw a great deal of changes. And the face of Cape Girardeau changed dramatically during the 1960s and '70s as the old made way for the new.

In October 1962, the Post Office Department acquired an option on a site and Bellevue and Frederick streets in Cape Girardeau. Construction on the new building began a year and a half later. Then, in late June 1965, the postal service started to move into its new building.

In 1967, two buildings were razed in downtown Cape Girardeau. On Valentine's Day, workers began razing the historic 129-year-old St. Charles Hotel. Less than a month later, the razing of the old Federal Building began.

But even more significant than the razing of the old was the construction of new buildings and businesses.

In February 1968, industry and the economic growth of the region were forever changed when plans were announced for the construction of the Procter & Gamble plant outside of Cape Girardeau.

Later that same year the cornerstone for the new Federal Building was laid at Broadway and Fountain streets.

The building expansion continued in the 1970s on the west side of Cape Girardeau with the opening of Doctor's Park in 1971 and groundbreaking for the St. Francis Medical Center in 1973. The hospital would be completed and formally dedicated in 1976.

The Interstate 55 linkup was completed in 1972 when the last concrete was poured between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, making traveling between the cities faster and easier. I-55 was formally opened with a ceremony at Perryville in August.

Transportation and commerce on the Mississippi River saw the initial stages of improvement in the area when the first steps toward establishing a regional port authority were taken during the early 1970s.

In May 1974, business and government leaders met to discuss forming a six-county regional port authority for Southeast Missouri. By June, officials from two of the counties -- Cape Girardeau and Scott -- met in Benton and decided that the best place for the port authority would be the Mississippi River mouth of the Diversion Channel. The close proximity to the railroads, the airport, the Cape Girardeau industrial track and the Mississippi River bridge made the location ideal.

But not all transportation to and from the city increased during the two decades. The final Frisco passenger train traveled through the city in 1965.