Out of the past 12/19/04

25 years ago: Dec. 19, 1979

APPLE CREEK, Mo. -- Fire last night destroyed the 71-year-old St. Joseph Catholic School at Apple Creek, forcing its 51 pupils to begin a Christmas break early; while cause of the blaze is undetermined, school officials theorize it might have been the result of faulty electrical wiring.

First National Bank, which in July filed application to move its head offices from the present location at Broadway and Main Street to a site on Mount Auburn Road, receives approval for the transfer.

50 years ago: Dec. 19, 1954

The Rev. Joseph W. Burger, formerly of Cape Girardeau, will be ordained a priest Dec. 21 in the cathedral at Oklahoma City, Okla.; he will offer his first Solemn Mass Dec. 23 at St. Mary's Church in Cape Girardeau; Burger is the son of Anna Burger of Cape Girardeau and the late Henry A. Burger.

The Christmas shopping frenzy reached its peak in many Cape Girardeau stores as throngs, for the second Saturday in a row, crowded streets and stores yesterday in a mad rush to get their season's buying done before stocks were depleted.

75 years ago: Dec. 19, 1929

Traffic over Southeast Missouri highways, virtually paralyzed early today by the worst snowstorm in 10 years, moves more rapidly in the afternoon as state maintenance workers, out since dawn, remove snowdrifts of up to 6 feet in height.

Two sections of the federal government's Mississippi River fleet move into winter quarters at Cape Girardeau in advance of the huge floes of ice which may block the stream within a few days; these sections came from Bainbridge and farther north.

100 years ago: Dec. 19, 1904

Every man in Cape Girardeau over 21 years of age will have the opportunity to vote tomorrow in favor of a city sewer system; the vote itself will give the city council members the authority to act in the best interests of the city in pursuing a sewer system.

With the hall in the Masonic building decorated with holly and clusters of mistletoe, 25 couples of the city's younger society dance at the first of the season's leap-year dances; Bertha Uhl supplies the music, and Mrs. A.C. Sherwood plays several numbers.

-- Sharon K. Sanders