Out of the Past August 31

1999

An industry that has operated in Cape Girardeau since soon after the turn of the century will close by year'’s end; Florsheim Shoe Co., which once occupied a multilevel structure on North Main Street and is now in a plant at South West End Boulevard and Southern Expressway, announced yesterday it will close by late December; the closing will affect approximately 300 employees.

An outbreak of grass fires and no expectation of rain have led the Cape Girardeau County Commission to restrict burning for at least the next two weeks; dry conditions are responsible for at least 10 fires around the county the past week, says Presiding Commissioner Gerald Joes.

1974

A bid for construction work by R.B. Potashnick Co. on 1.9 miles of Nash Road that was originally turned down by the state because it was “too high” has been resubmitted, only this time for an apparent slightly larger amount of money; the first bid submitted by Potashnick to the Missouri Highway Commission was for $1,093,890; the company’s most recent bid was for $1,093,951.

Indications are that the R. Lowenbaum Manufacturing Co., 100 S. Minnesota Ave., may close down leaving more than 100 persons in the Cape Girardeau area jobless; the plant hasn’t operated at full force for several weeks, with only a few people working this week; Ralph Lowenbaum III of St. Louis, owner, declined to comment on the situation.

1949

A threatened disruption of the Homecomers celebration is settled amicably in the morning; the Coffee Drinkers Friendship Club had sought to set up a Bingo stand on the the street to sell raffle tickets for a pickup truck giveaway; however, when Hottel Shows, the carnival showing at the event, objected, saying it had exclusive rights to the streets, the club agreed to move its stand to the courthouse lawn, with the permission of the County Court; again, Hottel objected, because it, too, offered Bingo games; finally, in order to keep the carnival from pulling out of Homecomers, the club agreed to forego its stand.

Mr. and Mrs. Don McNeely, 1100 N. West End Blvd., have moved to Springfield, where he will be employed as an announcer on radio station KICK; since the completion of his work on a master’s degree in radio at Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, two weeks ago, the couple has been visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A.H. McNeely, here.

1924

The Rev. J. Grant Frye, who returned to Cape Girardeau from the World War with a French Croix de Guerre, an American medal and numerous citations, occupies the pulpit at First Christian Church in Cape Girardeau and speaks on “A Protest of Defense Day”; Frye was ordained a minister in the Christian Church two weeks ago, but prior to that he was a student minister and filled a pulpit in a church near Columbia, while he pursued his studies in the law school, from which he expects to graduate next year.

The new church building recently erected by the congregation of Third Methodist Church on Bend Road gives members of the church an excellent meeting place; it was built by subscriptions of the members, is modern in every respect and was built on such a plan that it may be added to as the congregation grows; pastor is the Rev. Fred Stabler.

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 semissourian.com/history.