Out of the past: July 14

1998

Helen Gannon, who runs an organization called St. Louis Irish Arts, has brought those arts to Cape Girardeau this week for a one-week workshop at Southeast Missouri State University's Parker Hall; about 30 students have enrolled in classes to learn Irish dance, harp, fiddle, tin whistle and the Irish drum called a bodhran.

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department has a new pumper truck; the $272,303 1998 Pierce Quantum pumper is expected to go into service this week and will be housed at Fire Station No. 1 at Sprigg and Independence streets; the truck, which should last for 20 years or so, carries 750 gallons of water, 30 gallons of foam concentrate and a 1,500-gallon-per-minte pump; the department plans to auction off a 1974 American LaFrance pumper in the next few weeks.

1973

A U.S. government-inspired mapping project designed to determine the best future land usage in portions of Cape Girardeau County was outlined by representatives of the Missouri Geological Survey at a meeting with county and city officials Friday; Ed Lutzen of the survey staff said the "overmapping" project should ultimately show what types of land developments are best suited for the areas to be mapped; the survey is the first of its kind in the nation.

Footings were poured this week in the Town Plaza for a new Ponderosa Restaurant building; the structure is located on a lot recently sold by Greater Missouri Builders, owners of Town Plaza Shopping Center, to Burton J. Gerhardt, who is building the restaurant and leasing it to the Ponderosa organization; the structure will have a frontage of 60 feet on William Street on a site just east of the Standard Oil Co.'s property, and a depth of 115 feet.

1948

ST. LOUIS -- After a morning hearing, Judge Rubey M. Hulen in Federal Court directs counsel to file briefs within 10 days in a proceeding which will determine ownership of Courthouse Park in Cape Girardeau, the projected site of a new post office building; the question of ownership of the land came up as part of the government's condemnation of the park tract, the question being whether the money to be paid for the site should go to the city or revert to the heirs of the city's founder, Louis Lorimier.

The State Highway Commission in Jefferson City approves the $220,458 bid of the Potashnick Construction Co., for the paving of new Highway 74, from a point on Highway 61 to the Shady Grove establishment on South Sprigg Street; the 1.5-mile sector will be paved with 22-foot wide concrete, and a bridge will be built over Cape La Croix Creek.

1923

The 140th Infantry of the National Guard, composed of Southeast Missouri men, leaves for its annual 15-day encampment at Nevada, Missouri; the Service Company of Cape Girardeau left Thursday for Camp Clark, where it has been busy preparing for the arrival of the remainder of the regiment; last summer, the 140th Infantry was called into strike duty shortly after its annual encampment at Camp Clark; the Guardsmen remained on strike duty until late September.

The home of Addie Jackson, 221 Mill St., is destroyed by fire at 11 a.m.; by the time firefighters straighten out the hose ready for action, there are three houses ablaze; the fire spreads from the side of the Jackson home to another nearby, and sparks catch still another house, adjoining the second; the fourth house on the east side of Jackson's is ignited in several places along the side; Jackson loses everything to the flames, except the clothes she is wearing.

-- Sharon K. Sanders