Out of the past: Nov. 16

1998

For 39 years, Myron "Whitey" and Jackie Anderson have been surrounded by books in their small downtown store; that's long enough, they say, and they're ready to turn to a new page in their lives; the Andersons are retiring from their Metro News Bookstore; a book store and news agency has been located at 415 Broadway for more than 60 years.

The Cape Girardeau school board approves a change in its naming policy after having suspended the naming committee's action last month to reconsider making the change; the new policy does not designate whether a person be living or deceased to have his name considered; the old policy, which was adopted in 1992, required that a person be dead for at least three years before his name could be considered; the committee is again tasked with naming Cape Girardeau's new elementary school.

1973

There are strong indications that a majority of the County Court judges will reject the City of Jackson's offer to trade, with the county, property on which to build the proposed law enforcement complex, but instead authorize its construction on a 23-acre tract of County Farm property in Cape Girardeau; this was apparent after Jackson Mayor Carlton Meyer and City Administrator Carl Talley proposed yesterday to trade the city-owned property abutting Washington and North High streets in Jackson for county-owned property which contains the present jail.

Twenty-one hundred square feet of wall space sounds like a lot, but it's not when you start hanging 324 paintings; that's the task facing the staff of the 27th annual Southeast Missourian Art Exhibition; topped only by the 1970 show, for which 339 paintings were hung throughout the downstairs business offices and display rooms in the office building, the 1973 exhibition is being hung on pegboard panels in the large second floor area recently vacated by the newsroom; the exhibition will be open for viewing there the next two weekends.

1948

A "militant" group of Cape Girardeau beauty operators, their sights set on home permanent wave kits used professionally for pay, fired a salvo at the practice at Monday's City Council meeting and received assurance from the council that henceforth license fees would be charged; Margaret Estes, speaking for the operators, told the council that all regular beauty shops have to pay a license fee to operate here; but, she said, there are a great number of persons in the city charging women for giving permanent waves without paying the required license tax.

Primarily to take the strain off Main Street parking by providing additional room for parking, the lot at Main Street and Broadway is being improved to allow for the parking of 100 vehicles; Girardeau Improvement Co., a corporation recently formed which purchased the lots at the rear of the Huckstep filling station on the northwest corner of Main and Broadway, is having the work done; a small house will be built at the northwest corner for an attendant; there will a charge for parking on the lot, but merely enough to meet expenses.

1923

Third steamer Cape Girardeau. (Courtesy of the late Peg Meyer ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

The new steamer Cape Girardeau, just launched from the shipyards on the Ohio River and bound for winter quarters at the Alton, Illinois, slough, speeds proudly past Cape Girardeau at 12:50 p.m., displaying its snappy lines and bright paint to persons who look on from the levee; it is the first glimpse of the boat for Girardeans and what they see is an attractive packet, larger than the Bald Eagle, which it will supplant in service between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis, and a craft that has great speed possibilities.

The Victor Artists Quartet opened the entertainment season for the Teachers College and Southeast Missouri last evening at the college auditorium; the program was well arranged with a happy succession of quartets, duets and solos; the next offering at the college will be Mozart's "Cosi Fan Cutti" -- "Everybody's Doing It" -- composed in 1790; the opera, in English, will be performed by the new Hinshaw Opera Company in January.

-- Sharon K. Sanders