It seems like almost yesterday that Claude Miller accepted the final passenger toll paid to cross the Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau. The bridge was to become free at 5:30 a.m.on June 29, 1957. At 5:29 a.m. Jerry Burchet of McClure, Illinois, reached out of the window of his pie truck and handed his fee to Mr. Miller so that he could cross the bridge into Illinois. One minute later, Harold McBride became the first person to cross the free bridge when he drove his Kimball Company