1996

Construction of Cape Girardeau's new Mississippi River bridge is slated to start today, but the initial work won't make a big splash; a coffer dam will be built, which will allow work to proceed on construction of the first of two bridge piers; "It is going to look like it is slow moving because it is down in the hole," says Matt Girard, project manager for the contractor, Flatiron Structures Co. of Longmont, Colorado.

Economic developers may have found a way to provide potable water for Nash Road and other Cape Girardeau County areas without water or sewers; they want to finance improvements through a Tax Increment Financing District; such districts, found throughout the state, earmark specific taxes to pay for infrastructure improvements; the TIF district would take in Nash Road, an industrial area south of Cape Girardeau's city limits, as well as Cape West Business Park and land around the Interstate 55 and Highway 61 interchange between Jackson and Cape Girardeau.

1971

With eight doctors already moved into the multi-million dollar Cape Girardeau Doctors' Park, resident physicians are shooting for a late October open house which will give the public an opportunity to tour the comprehensive medical and dental center; already receiving patients in the new facility are Drs. Joseph N. Tygett, James W. Terry, L.R. Seabaugh, Dale M. Blankenship, Charles P. McGinty, Jerry L. Kinder, Robert S. Hunt and Melvin C. Kasten.

Lt. Gov. William L. Morris, speaking to a crowd of Democratic notables here last night, said public officials underestimate the intelligence and ability of the taxpayer to understand critical issues; Morris, the gubernatorial hopeful, was here to attend the annual dinner of the Cape County Women's Democratic Club, held at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post Home.

1946

Cape Girardeau youngsters return to their books in the morning; first-day enrollments show a drop in the number of pupils enrolled in public schools here and an increase in parochial schools; Supt. Louis J. Schultz, however, predicts the public school numbers will increase over the next three weeks and will eclipse last year's enrollment of 2,548; he blames the lower, first-day numbers on cautious parents keeping their children home for fear they might contract infantile paralysis.

Herman Obermann has purchased the Suedekum farm between Cape Girardeau and Dutchtown from the Suedekum family heirs; Arthur O. Keller, who has operated the farm, located near Highway 74, plans to move to the Judge I.R. Kelso farm near Cape Girardeau about Jan. 1, to farm and operate a dairy.

1921

Professor M.P. Smith, noted psychologist and educational director, who has filled many responsible positions in the Midwest, has been elected principal of th Teachers College Training High School, succeeding Martha Shea, who resigned; he will come here next week from Hyland, Kansas, where he has been president of Hyland College.

The great flying boat "Santa Maria," said to be the largest of its type in the world, will arrive in Cape Girardeau one day next week, according to word received by Fred A. Groves, chairman of the reception committee; the aircraft is en route from Chicago to New Orleans, Galveston, Texas, and Vera Cruz, Mexico.

-- Sharon K. Sanders