Sikeston, Missouri
Encyclopedia : S : SI : SIK : Sikeston, Missouri
Sikeston (pronounced sīks´ten), which was founded by John Sikes (1816-1867) in 1860, is a city in Scott County, Missouri and New Madrid County, Missouri. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 16,992, making it the second most populous city in Missouri's 8th Congressional district ([map]) behind Cape Girardeau (population 35349). Other cities in Missouri's 8th Congressional district with a population exceeding 10,000 include Poplar Bluff (population 16651), Rolla (population 16367), Farmington (population 13924), Jackson (population 11947), Kennett (population 11260), and West Plains (population 10866). By way of Interstate 55 Sikeston is close to the halfway point between St. Louis and Memphis. In 2002, voters approved a home-rule system of government which allows the city to write its own laws instead of relying solely on Missouri statutes.
Contents
Geography
Sikeston is located at (36.879570, -89.585172)[Geographic references#1GR1].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 46.9 km² (18.1 mi²). 46.4 km² (17.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.4 km² (0.2 mi²) of it (0.94%) is water. The city is situated upon the Sikeston Sand Ridge which runs north and south from Benton to East Prairie.
Demographics
As of the census[Geographic references#2GR2] of 2000, there were 16,992 people, 6,779 households, and 4,602 families residing in the city. The population density was 365.9/km² (947.4/mi²). There were 7,428 housing units at an average density of 160.0/km² (414.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 75.52% White, 22.36% African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.37% Asian, 0.49% from other races, and 0.99% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.20% of the population.There were 6,779 households out of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 17.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.1% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.6% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 85.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $28,589, and the median income for a family was $36,420. Males had a median income of $31,846 versus $19,623 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,509. About 16.2% of families and 21.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.3% of those under age 18 and 12.0% of those age 65 or over.
Attractions
- Lambert's Cafe - The original "Home of the Throwed Rolls"
- Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo [link]
- The Sikeston Depot, a train depot built in 1916 and on the National Register of Historic Places, is now used as a cultural center and museum.
- Boot Heel Golf Club ([link]) and Sikeston Country Club and Golf Course([link])
- SEMO Raceway ([link]) and Sikeston Race Park([link])
- The remodeled YMCA building was originally built in 1925. It was previously used as a gymnasium for the middle school and as a gymnasium for the high school before that.
Trivia
- The high school mascot is the bulldog, and the school colors are red and black. The Red Pepper Organization which supports school athletics and promotes school spirit was started in 1928 is one old the oldest high school organizations in the state.
- In 1931, J. Otto Hahs invented and patented the coin-operated horse in Sikeston.
- In January 1937, a big flood and flu outbreak arrived in Sikeston.
- On January 21, 1955, a mostly unknown 20-year-old Elvis Presley performed at the Sikeston Armory.
- In the early 1960s, Sikeston is where Dr. Dewey Urban performed the first successful tooth transplant.
- On April 1, 1965, Ronald Reagan was the guest speaker for the Sikeston Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet and was presented an “Honorary Cotton Picker of Southeast Missouri” plaque, perhaps as part of an April Fool's Day joke.
- In 1968 and 1972, former resident George Woods won Olympic silver medals in the shot put.
- In 1973, the first Drury Inn was built in Sikeston.
- Former Senator Lloyd Bentsen visited the rodeo grounds in attempt to gain support for a 1976 presidential run.
- In 1985, the Sikeston High School Bulldogs played their 100th game versus the Charleston High School Blue Jays with Sikeston winning that game 20 to 19.
- On May 15, 1986, a tornado hit the city of Sikeston and destroyed about 100 homes, prompting Governor Ashcroft to visit and call on the National Guard for assistance. On the same day, the nearby community of Vanduser was also hit by a tornado while storms precipitated flooding to the north in Cape Girardeau.
- The recently-built George E. Day Parkway is named for Colonel George E. "Bud" Day, a F-100 Super Sabre pilot who is the only known American POW to escape into South Vietnam, although he was later recaptured and sent to the Hanoi Hilton. Earlier in 1955, while serving in England, Colonel Day was noted for surviving the first "no chute" bailout from a burning jet fighter. On March 6, 1976, President Gerald Ford presented he and James Stockdale with the Congressional Medal of Honor.
- William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., father of former United States president Bill Clinton, died outside Sikeston on U.S. Highway 60 after being thrown from his car and drowning in a drainage ditch. This occurred on May 17, 1946, three months before Bill Clinton's birth.
Military History
- Sikeston's location during The Civil War held some importance due to its railroad and road location. Sikeston was used as a transportion connection as Union Brigadier General Pope sent his artillery across the river to Commerce to be sent by rail to Sikeston for cart transportation to New Madrid in preparation for the Battle of Island Number Ten. On February 28, 1862, Pope left Commerce with his army of 12,000, arriving in Sikeston on March 2, 1862. Colonel William Pitt Kellogg, commanding the 7th Illinois cavalry, was the first to encounter the rebel sabotage of recently burned bridges and other obstructions. The federals were attacked just south of Sikeston by a small group of rebels led by Confederate General M. Jeff Thompson the Swamp Fox, a nickname previously belonging to Revolutionary War Brigadier General Francis Marion. Thompson commanded a detachment of 85 horsemen and 4 to 6 experimental canons that had been manufactured in Memphis. Colonel James Morgan Illinois' troops were reinforced by Brigadier General Schuyler Hamilton's 2nd Division, hence Thompson quickly fled. Entering the area from Bird's Point, Brigadier General Eleazor Arthur Paine, commander of the 4th Division of Army of the Mississippi, repaired the railroad and telegraph lines and used troops from Illinois to form a garrison for Sikeston, Bertrand, and Charleston. War records state that on March 31, 1862, there were 6 Union officers and 143 Union soldiers present in Sikeston.
- During World War I, an infantry company was organized in Sikeston on August 25, 1917 until the spring of 1919. Company K became part of the 140th Infantry, 70th Brigade, U.S. 35th Infantry Division and fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and served as part of the occupation force of Europe.
- Between the two world wars, Company K was reorganized. It helped secure rail centers during the railroad workers' strike of 1922, helped out with the aftermath of the Poplar Bluff tornado of 1927, and worked on the Mississippi River levees durings the floods of 1927 and 1937. In 1941, Company K was sent to Camp James T. Robinson, near Little Rock, where they drilled for eight months
- During World War II until 1944, the Sikeston Municipal Airport which was previously dedicated on July 3-4, 1934 was known as Harvey Parks Airport and included long, barrack-style buildings as a site of the Missouri Institute of Aeronautics, which was established after General Hap Arnold asked flight training operations to triple their enrollments. The local National Guard unit Company K was assigned to the Western Defense Command in California. Also during World War II the local International Shoe factory started work on an army shoe order.
- Sikeston is the home to Missouri National Guard unit Company C 1140th Engineer Battalion which took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom from February 2004 until February 2005. The current Adjutant General of the Missouri National Guard King Sidwell ([link]) is from Sikeston and states that Company C may be restructured from an engineering unit to a military police detachment of the 1221st Transportation Company.
- Veterans' Park near the airport includes a display of a M60 battle tank, an F-4 Phantom II jet fighter, and a 105 mm Howitzer cannon.
- On April 26, 2006, the national commander of the American Legion Thomas L. Bock came to Sikeston to speak to American Legion Post 114.
Lynching of Cleo Wright
Those interested in this event should consult the 274 page book "The Lynching of Cleo Wright" by Dominic J. Capeci, Jr.The book tells the 1942 story of a "mob" taking justice into its own hands and how afterwards a grand jury in the town allowed "mob justice" to rule.
Medicine
Missouri Delta Medical Center ([link]) was founded in Sikeston in 1948. The hospital typically employs over 600 healthcare providers and has close to 200 beds.Education
- Sikeston Public Schools ([link]) - The Bulldogs Boys' Basketball team advanced to the state final four in the "Show-Me Showdown" tournament, eventually losing to St. Francis Borgia high school on March 11, 2006 by the [score of 62-77].
- St Francis Xavier School ([link])
- The Christian Academy ([link])
- Sikeston Area Higher Education Center ([link])
- Church on the Rock "Solid Rock Christian Academy"
Journalism
Newspapers: The Sikeston Standard-Democrat ([link]) derives its name from Sikeston's two previous newspapers -- The Democrat Advertiser and The Daily Standard which was founded in 1911 and became a daily newspaper in 1950. In 1939, Standard editor Charles "Pole Cat" Blanton was featured in Time Magazine. Previous Sikeston newspapers include The Sikeston Star which was founded in 1884 and The Sikeston Herald which was founded in 1903. The high school newspaper is known as The Bulldog Barker while the high school yearbook is known as The Growler.Music
Sikeston has long been associated with country music. Some previous performers at the local Jaycee rodeo have included Kenny Rogers in 1977 and Loretta Lynn in 1983 with Charlie Daniels and Lee Greenwood performing multiple times. Upon his visit, Kenny Rogers donated an Arabian stallion to be auctioned off to bring money to the local cerebral palsy center which in appreciation changed its name to the Kenny Rogers Children’s Center.Transportation
- In 1789, the El Camino Real also known as "The King's Highway" was marked out by orders from the King of Spain. In 1915, the Missouri Daughters of the American Revolution erected a monument near Woodlawn Street in Sikeston to mark this event. In 1929, the Sikeston portion of the street was paved. Today this road is known as U.S. Highway 61.
- Sikeston is located at the intersection of I-55 and I-57. Other Sikeston highways include U.S. Highway 60, U.S. Highway 61, U.S. Highway 62, and Missouri State Highway 114. Sikeston's location at the interesction of US Highways 60, 61, and 62 make the city one of the few towns located at the intersection of 3 consecutively numbered highways.
- The city is served by the Union Pacific Railroad and the BNSF Railway.
Economy
- The major city employers include Unilever, Missouri Delta Medical Center, the Sikeson public school system, and Wal-Mart.
- Agriculture products of the area include cotton, soybeans, corn, rice, watermelons, wheat, milo, potatoes, and poultry with native trees that include oak and cypress.
- The Sikeston Power Plant is a coal-fired generating facility with excess capacity sold to other communities.
- Besides Lambert's Cafe other Sikeston restaurants include Arby's, Applebee's, Burger King, Dairy Queen, Domino's Pizza, Fishermans Net([link]), Hardee's, KFC, Long John Silver's/A&W, Mcdonald's, Pizza Hut, Sonic drive-in, Subway, Taco Bell, Taco John's, and Wendy's.
- Sikeston is the headquarters for Montgomery Bank which is the largest privately owned, family operated bank in Missouri.
- Other Sikeston businesses include AgMart Sales ([link]), Clayton Fabrication and Metal Works([link]), Collins Music ([link]), Construction Trailer Specialists ([link]), Days Inn, DeWitt Company ([link]), Duckett Truck Center([link]), John Eftink Motor Sales, Feeders Pet and Supply([link]), Ferguson Medical Group ([link]), First Midwest Bank ([link]), First Security State Bank ([link]), Garage Door Company of Sikeston ([link]), Health Systems, Inc.,JCPenney, J-J-N Enterprises ([link]), Lowe's, Meyers Supply Company ([link]), Mills Jewelry and Awards ([link]), Mitchell Insurance ([link]), NewWave Communications ([link]), Pyramid Roofing Company ([link]), Retco Trailer Manufacturing([link]), Steward Steel ([link]), and Walgreens with mutiple locations for Dollar General, Raymond James, State Farm Insurance, and U.S. Bancorp.
Sister cities
Sikeston's sister city has been Yeochun City, South Korea.People from Sikeston
Sikeston is the birthplace of congressmen Kenny C. Hulshof (1958- ), Assistant Minority Missouri Senate Leader Maida Coleman (1954- ), and the nearby birthplace of former congressman Charles Augustus Crow (1873-1938), representative to the Sixty-first Congress. NFL players James Wilder ([link]) and Brandon Barnes were born in Sikeston. Blake DeWitt, former Sikeston High School baseball standout, drafted in the first round (26th overall pick) in the 2004 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, was also born in Sikeston. Actress Jacqueline Scott ([link]) who made multiple appearances on Gunsmoke, The Outer Limits, Bonanza, The Fugitive, Ironside, Planet of the Apes, and Barnaby Jones was also born in Sikeston. Sikeston native Mimi Allen Smitten was a professional harpist who performed for the president, gave concerts in Europe, and recorded childern's music. Authors Robert Vaughan ([link]), Terry Teachout([link]), and Barbara Watkins have lived in Sikeston.Churches
- Trinity Baptist Church ([link])
- Powerhouse of God
- First Assembly of God
- Church on the Rock
- Trinity Gospel Church
External links
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