Out of the past: May 26

1998

A festival celebrating the French cultural heritage of Southeast Missouri came to a close Monday afternoon on the lawn of the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau amid the sounds of French Cajun music and the sights of local actors portraying early French settlers of the region; the second annual festival, called La Fete Francaise, also included American Dixieland jazz played by Les Flagada Stompers, a seven-man jazz band from Lyon, France, and a performance of "Audubon in Ste. Genevieve" by the Historyonics Theatre Company of St. Louis.

Plans are in the works for facilities to help Cape Girardeau's police and fire departments hone their public safety skills; the city is acquiring land about a block south of La Cruz Street to build a training site for the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, and work should start this summer on a new firing range for the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

1973

First National Bank has acquired a site approximately 300 feet by 300 feet at the southwest corner of Kingshighway and Independence Street for the location of a bank facility; the property was purchased from Malan Construction Co. of Detroit, Michigan, a developer who recently acquired this and adjacent property along the south side of Independence.

Sterling Stores Inc. has signed a new lease agreement with the Downtown Investment Corp., a group of local investors, for the building at 45 N. Main St., occupied by the company store and for additional adjacent space on the south for the store's expansion; the additional area has been purchased by the group from Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Hecht and Louis Hecht; it formerly was the site of a building occupied by Dolly's Hat Shop, and more recently by Old World Imports and a television store; the structure was badly damaged by fire last November and will be razed to provide an addition of approximately 3,000 square feet to the Sterling store.

1948

Seeking to bolster the municipal finances for the fiscal period beginning July 1, the Cape Girardeau City Council gives first reading to an ordinance increasing the tax rate 10 cents on the $100 assessed valuation; the new schedule will bring the tax rate up to $1 and is estimated to increase the collections an approximate $13,000 for the 12-month period; the rate will be effective this fall.

The Marquette Cement Co. towboat John Luchow, decked out in pendants and bunting, is docked at the Cape Girardeau riverfront May 26, 1948, after it was launched from the city wharf at the foot of Themis Street that morning. (G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

The latest addition to the waterways fleet of Marquette Cement Mfg. Co., a 70-foot diesel-powered towboat, is christened the John Luchow at riverside ceremonies in the morning at the foot of Themis Street; christened by Mrs. Luchow with a bottle of champaign, the craft is named in honor of Capt. John Luchow, 1501 Themis St., marine superintendent for the Marquette company.

1923

Extensive repairs to Albert Hall, the men's dormitory at Cape Girardeau Teachers College, to convert it into a modern and up-to-date building are to be made following the close of the summer semester; after the repairs are made, the building will be converted into a dormitory for women, establishing two such buildings for female students; male students will be required to room in Cape Girardeau homes.

Petitions asking for the paving of West Broadway between West End Boulevard and Perryville Road are being circulated among property holders on that part of the street; while property on the south side of roadway is owned by residents, Fairground Park adjoins on the north, and the regular part of the expense must be borne by the city, if the paving is done.

-- Sharon K. Sanders