Out of the past 11/17/05

25 years ago: Nov. 17, 1980

Cape Girardeau County Court approves a new one-year contract with Cape County Private Ambulance Service Inc. calling for payment of a $119,500 subsidy; the new agreement amounts to a $14,500 increase in the subsidy.

About 100 people, representing scores of local businesses, are afforded one of the first on-site looks at the progress in West Park Mall during a guided tour conducted by the mall's developers; work on the 510,000-square-foot shopping center is progressing on schedule toward a target completion date of March 1981.

50 years ago: Nov. 17, 1955

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- A record-breaking corn yield for Southeast Missouri was harvested recently on the J.W. Bennett farm near Bessville, Mo.; Bennett produced 30 acres of corn of which the average official yield was 196.7 bushels of ear corn per acre.

The strike of union workers is beginning to have an effect on the unorganized Jackson plant of the International Shoe Co.; several workers there have been told not to report for work until further notice; supplies for production have been shut off to the Jackson plant by the strike elsewhere.

75 years ago: Nov. 17, 1930

The Energy Coal Co., 140 William St., has been ordered to extinguish a fire in a fill of slate and cinders on the north side of its coal yards within the next three days; despite the efforts of firemen, the fire has burned intermittently for several weeks, filling the neighborhood with an unpleasant odor.

A second story is being added to the building of the Southeast Missouri Packing Co. on Highway 61 west of the city limits, which houses the office and supply rooms of the firm; the present plant was built two years ago, after an old plant was destroyed by fire; since that time, Anton Sebek, owner, has made a number of improvements.

100 years ago: Nov. 17, 1905

J. Atkinson of St. Louis announces that in the near future he will open a large music store on upper Broadway; he has rented the store room at 517 Broadway; he will handle several standard lines of pianos, as well as small instruments.

Guy C. Miller of Goshen, Ind., is in Cape Girardeau with a view of locating a wheelbarrow and cart factory here; he has been shown several likely sites.

-- Sharon K. Sanders