CITY OF CAPE GROWS BY 1.8 PERCENT IN TWO YEARS

Cape Girardeau city's population grew to 35,047 in 1992, up 1.8 percent from 1990, U.S. Census figures show.

"This is good news," said City Manager J. Ronald Fischer.

John Mehner, Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce president, said the population growth is "a great step in the right direction for us."

"I think that shows that maybe we have turned the corner and are on our way back to maybe a little better growth," he said.

In Southeast Missouri, Cape Girardeau did better than Kennett and Sikeston percentage wise, while trailing Poplar Bluff.

Poplar Bluff showed a 3.2 percent growth to 17,537; Kennett, a 1.4 percent rise to 11,095. The city of Sikeston saw its population drop by .10 percent to 17,616.

Monday's report listed only cities with populations of 10,000 or more.

Suburbs in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas led Missouri in population grow during the two-year period, according to census figures released Monday.

The fastest-growing municipality in the state was the St. Louis suburb of O'Fallon, which grew 15.2 percent to 21,259.

At the same time, the city of St. Louis lost 3.3 percent of its population, dropping to 383,733 in 1992.

The Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit grew 10.6 percent to rate among the fastest-growing cities. Springfield grew 3.5 percent to 145,438, Jefferson City grew by 4.5 percent to reach 37,089, and Columbia grew 5.8 percent to 73,078.

Of Missouri's 110 counties, 41 lost population between 1990 and 1992. The biggest gainers were Christian County, just south of Springfield, which grew 10.7 percent to 36,131, and neighboring Stone County, which jumped 9.4 percent to 20,864.

Cape Girardeau County's population grew 2.7 percent to 63,318. County census figures were released several weeks ago.

Fischer said that it's important to consider not just the city's growth, but the growth in the surrounding area as well.

Cape Girardeau is served by major roads, "which makes it very easy for people to get into the city and take advantage of our city as a hub," said Fischer. It allows people to live in a rural setting outside of Cape Girardeau and commute to jobs in the city, he said.

City and chamber officials had objected to 1990 Census figures, maintaining that Cape Girardeau's population was under counted.

But both Fischer and Mehner said Monday they were pleased with the percentage of growth reported in the latest figures, if not the total number.

Mehner said a 1.8 percent growth is good compared to the .34 percent growth reported from 1980 to 1990.

If the growth continues at the current rate, Cape Girardeau's population will have increased by 8 percent by the end of the decade, he noted. "I would say we would be thrilled to death with an 8 percent growth in 10 years."

Said Mehner, "We would like a small, controlled growth. But the other thing we look at in terms of economic impact is, of course, employment figures. And our employment figures are continuing to go up."

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.