Filmed on Saturday, September 7 2024, I drive around Sikeston, MO to see what's going on.

In 1803 the United States acquired this area under the Louisiana Purchase.

The land for the city of Sikeston was first owned by Frenchman Francis Paquette. In 1829, the city site was acquired by the Stallcup family. In 1859, city founder John Sikes, who had married into the Stallcup family, gained control of the land.

Although Sikeston was a small village during the Civil War, its position at the railroad and highway intersection gave it strategic significance.

On October 4 1861, Confederate General Jeff Thompson reached Sikeston, planning to strike Cape Girardeau; however, his manpower was limited, and he decided to retreat into the swamps off to the west.

On November 3, General Ulysses S. Grant wrote a letter to Colonel Richard J. Oglesby, ordering his troops to "strike for Sikeston" from the Mississippi River town of Commerce.

On February 28, 1862, 12,000 soldiers left Commerce, arriving in Sikeston on March 2. The federals were attacked just south of Sikeston by a small group of rebels led by General Thompson. Thompson commanded a detachment of 85 horsemen and four to six experimental cannons that had been manufactured in Memphis. Seeing that Colonel James Morgan's Illinois troops were reinforced by General Schuyler Hamilton's 2nd Division, Thompson fled.

Lambert's Cafe was started in Sikeston in 1942 by Earl Lambert and his wife Agnes. In 1976, Earl's son Norman Lambert took over management. It was Norman who started the tradition of throwing rolls to customers.

In 1981 he explained, "I started throwing rolls about four years ago when we were in our old cafe. It was too crowded one noon for me to serve the rolls to a customer and somebody yelled, 'Throw em.' So I threw them."

In August 2015, the restaurant was sued by a customer who says he suffered permanent eye injuries after being struck by a hot roll thrown by a staff member. A Lambert's spokesman confirmed that other customers have previously sought damages for similar claims, and in some cases medical expenses have been paid.

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