Out of the Past: July 17

1999

Members of the Missouri Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission are scheduled to meet with citizens of Cape Girardeau on Aug. 17 at Southeast Missouri State University Center; they are interested in hearing local views about how the Lewis and Clark expedition should be commemorated in 2004; Meriwether Lewis visited Louis Lorimier here Nov. 23, 1803, while the explorer’s partner, William Clark, continued with their boats the three miles north to Cape Rock.

The first Healthy Families 2000 Community Block Party is held at Fort D, with about 500 persons attending; a committee of service-agency and business representatives planned the event and hope the block party will be staged annually; along with carnival rides, games, food and other entertainment, participants have an opportunity to learn about health issues, Scouting and Caring Communities.

1974

Despite efforts by placement offices at area colleges and universities, nearly one-half of the individuals qualified for teaching jobs are without work, a Missourian study shows; Ronald E. King, director of placement at Southeast Missouri State University, states that 750 qualified teachers have registered with SEMO since September 1973, and that only 426 have been hired to fill vacated positions; area schools report they have received an average of no less than 20 individual applications for each open position, and sometimes as many as 40.

There’s a possibility a new bridge will be constructed over Sloan’s Creek on Bend Road (Highway 177) in the early fall; the narrow, concrete bridge now there has been closed to traffic for six months after being damaged in the 1973 spring floods and heavy rains the following fall; Cape Girardeau city manager W.G. Lawley says preliminary estimates for rebuilding the bridge to State Highway Department specifications (28 feet wide) and to raise the pavement as needed range from $75,000 to $80,000.

1949

The Rev. Carroll Owen, former State College student, fills the pulpit of First Baptist Church at both services; he is the son of the Rev. E.D. Owen, pastor of the Baptist Church at Sikeston.

Guest speaker at the morning worship service at Christ Episcopal Church is the Rev. S. George Parrigin, rector of Holy Cross Episcopal Church at Poplar Bluff; the local rector, the Rev. Bayard S. Clark, is conducting a service at Poplar Bluff; Parrigin, an educator, musician and Navy veteran, taught for five years before entering military service; he is a graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary and has a bachelor of music degree from Vandercook School in Chicago.

1924

The contract for construction of a new brick school house in the Rock Levee District, on Kingshighway south of Cape Girardeau, was let by Marquette Cement Co. yesterday on a total bid of $11,989; contract for the construction work went to A.H. Gerhardt; the heating and ventilation to the Cape Sheet Metal Co. and the electrical work to Gus Grieb; the school, which is to be erected one-half mile south of the present brick structure on Kingshighway, is being built by the cement company through an agreement with the school board, after the company purchased the present school because of its location near the new rock quarry.

The U.S. government is to spend $1,165,000 for the improvement of levees along the Mississippi River, from Cape Girardeau to the mouth of the White River in Arkansas; five contracts were let yesterday, involving 2,425,000 cubic yards of levee work in this district, most of it south of Cape Girardeau.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a blog called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper. Check out her blog at www.semissourian.com/history.