It seems like Almost Yesterday that Richard Henry Jesse, President of the University of Missouri, strongly urged Cape Girardeau to develop a public high school. On February 14, 1902, President Jesse wrote his good friend Robert B. Oliver that he found it painful to be reminded that Cape Girardeau, “the beautiful city” of southeast Missouri did not have a public high school. He urged Mr. Oliver to help move the city to the development of that essential goal. Cape Girardeau, Saint Charles, and