Out of the past 10/23/08

25 years ago: Oct. 23, 1983

G. Edgar Gress of New Jersey is installing a new Gress-Miles organ designed for the First Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau; the new $125,000 instrument is a 29-rank pipe organ.

The Rev. and Mrs. Walter Keisker are honored at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson; this year marks the pastor's 60th anniversary in the ministry, as well as the 60th anniversary of the Rev. and Mrs. Keisker's wedding; a third noteworthy anniversary is the couple's 45th year in Jackson.

50 years ago: Oct. 23, 1958

Postmaster Ted Regenhardt announces two highway post offices and two tractor-trailer trucks will expedite mail service in to and out of Cape Girardeau upon cessation of service by Frisco night passenger trains; the rolling post offices will operate out of St. Louis and Memphis, Tenn, meeting at Sikeston, Mo.; the tractor-trailer trucks will move between the two large cities, receiving pouches at the various stops on the way.

Fire of undetermined origin destroyed a school bus yesterday that a family was using as living quarters; the bus was parked on South U.S. 61 at the time.

75 years ago: Oct. 23, 1933

The Rev. Robert L. Harrell submits his resignation as pastor of First Christian Church to the official church board to become pastor of the Christian Church at Cameron, Mo.

The Rev. Roy E. Kleiser, presiding elder of the Cape Girardeau district of the Methodist Church, says another switch in pastorates has been made, bringing the Rev. Archie Holt from the Oran, Mo., Church to Third Street Church; earlier it had been announced that the Rev. J.E. Isbell would pastor Third Street.

100 years ago: Oct. 23, 1908

Joseph J. Russell, Democratic nominee for Congress from this district, speaks at the Common Pleas Courthouse in the evening; a packed house hears Russell condemn the "robber tariff," which grinds down the poor man and benefits the rich; Russell says William Howard Taft is unqualified for the presidency.

The first local football game of the season is played at the Fairgrounds, the Jackson boys falling to the Normal School team 6-5.

-- Sharon K. Sanders