Out of the past 12/18/09

25 years ago: Dec. 18, 1984

The air traffic control tower at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport is scheduled to reopen the first week of January under the Federal Aviation Agency Tower Contracting Program.

An American Legion baseball regional tournament, scheduled to be held at Capaha Park next August, may provide the impetus for improving the ballpark; city officials have met with Legion representatives to discuss needed improvements, including a new or remodeled press box at the Capaha diamond.

50 years ago: Dec. 18, 1959

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Not many voters come out to ballot in the special election here, but those who do give a good margin of approval to a bond issue of $125,000, which will permit the modernization of the Perryville airport.

A big, 7 1/2-ton steel flood gate is set into position in the Themis Street opening of the Mississippi River floodwall; a similar gate is at the foot of Broadway.

75 years ago: Dec. 18, 1934

Work began yesterday on a street in the Village of Girardeau, east of Smelterville, which has been approved as a Federal Emergency Relief Administration project; 1,000 feet of LaCroix Street, from Green Row to Bourbon Street, is being built to serve a number of families living in the neighborhood.

A large crowd attends opening services for the new Salvation Army building, 207-209 Broadway in the evening; the building is dedicated by Brig. Victor Lundgren of St. Louis, divisional commander.

100 years ago: Dec. 18, 1909

Saint Francis Hospital, which has been ably managed for many years by the sisters of the Order of St. Francis, has been sold to the Rev. E. Moenig of Hamburg, Mo.; the sisters have made a proposal to the city of Cape Girardeau to provide partial funding for a new, $60,000 hospital to be built at the edge of town.

The ferryboat City of Warsaw, which operates between Cape Girardeau and East Cape Girardeau, Ill., was torn from its moorings by floating ice last night and carried off downstream.

-- Sharon K. Sanders