Out of the Past: July 25

1999

​The high-pressure system that has caused toasty temperatures in the Cape Girardeau area will likely remain for a while; temperatures have hovered around the 100-degree mark for about a week, with an average daily heat index of between 105 and 115 degrees; the heat is expected to remain throughout this week, with slight chances of thunderstorms possible each afternoon.

Mark McClimens, a former English, speech and drama teacher at Cape Girardeau Central High School, is the guest speaker at Plymouth Community Church, which holds services in the Lincoln Room of Drury Lodge; McClimens is pastor at Grace Covenant Church in Houston, Texas.

1974

​Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. may be the only telephone company in town, but company employees are probably wishing there were others to share the burden of having lines damaged in four separate incidents since yesterday; nearly 1,000 customers may have been affected when workers struck phone cables at a construction site on North Sprigg Street; other incidents involved a tractor-trailer severing lines on North Kingshighway and workers hitting cables on Highway 61 South and on Hilldale.

A lack of oxygen caused by a sudden temperature drop left city parks officials with a number of dead fish to dispose of Tuesday and Wednesday; oxygen was literally sucked out of the water in the Capaha Park lagoon when temperatures dipped into the 60s early Tuesday and Wednesday mornings; the temperature inversion resulted in the loss of about 50 fish.

1949

​Rainfall, measuring 1.52 inches, drenched Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area yesterday afternoon, causing water to reach depths of over 13 inches on some streets; slight damage resulted at Johns Metal and Iron Co., 130 S. Frederick St., when water in the street overflowed into the building, reaching a depth of a foot.

Parks Commissioner Charles Schweer announces that the swimming pool at Capaha Park will be closed after tonight; the step is being taken in consultation with other city officials in view of the number of infantile paralysis cases in the district; Schweer is instructed by the City Council to place another 100 pounds of disinfectant in the lagoon at the park, a pond used extensively by youngsters for fishing purposes.

1924

​Establishment of a terminal of the Missouri Pacific Railroad at Delta, 15 miles southwest of Cape Girardeau, making that place one of the important points on the railroad, especially in the handling of freight, is seen by railroad men in the abandonment of the terminal facilities at Charleston and the improvement of those at Bismarck; in the event the terminal is located at Delta, all the freight crews operating on the Belmont branch of the line will be transferred there from Charleston; trains from the “Cat” branch of the line from Poplar Bluff would operate to that point, instead of stopping at Charleston.

The directors of the Cape Girardeau Fair Association have decided to hold the fair three days this year — Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 18, 19 and 20 — rather than the usual five days, Tuesday through Saturday; the move is being made to hold down expenses; another change announced is that there will be no carnival outfit at the fair this year.

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.