Out of the past 10/7/04

25 years ago: Oct. 7, 1979

In observance of World Communion Sunday, several Protestant churches in Cape Girardeau hold special communion services; at Grace United Methodist Church, over 500 small loaves of bread, baked by the women of the church, are distributed to each family that attends the morning worship service.

Though the situation isn't critical yet, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is keeping a close watch on the depth of the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau to make sure it remains deep enough for barge traffic.

50 years ago: Oct. 7, 1954

Fire last night destroyed the 50-year-old frame school building at Allenville, reducing the structure to rubble; the school housed two rooms and 29 pupils, five less than the number attending the elementary school last year.

An estimated 4,000 people see the two-mile-long parade through Illmo, which officially opens the town's Golden Jubilee celebration; the evening program includes a band concert by the Illmo-Fornfelt High School Band and an aerial act.

75 years ago: Oct. 7, 1929

With about $43,000 to be expended and claims aggregating nearly $400,000 to be paid, George W. Cross, receiver for the Cape Girardeau Northern Railroad, asks Judge O.A. Knehans in Common Pleas Court for a suggestion as to which claims should be paid first; the receiver is unwilling to proceed until the court rules the order in which payments will be made.

Establishment of a motor truck freight line from Cape Girardeau to St. Louis is announced by Leslie A. Tucker of Cape Girardeau.

100 years ago: Oct. 7, 1904

A new industry is about to be started in connection with one of Cape Girardeau's largest mills; a bending plant for making wagon wheel rims is ready for operation; it will be a side issue to M.E. Leming's lumber mill in Milltown.

C.H. Dutcher, the second Normal School president, arrives in Cape Girardeau with his daughters, Flora and Lida; while Dutcher came to visit the Normal and friends - the first time since he left here in the 1880s - his object is to show his daughters where their mother passed away.

-- Sharon K. Sanders