Out of the past 2/10/12

25 years ago: Feb. 10, 1987

Flags in Cape Girardeau are lowered to half-staff in honor of Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper Russell W. Harper, 45, who was killed Sunday in a burst of gunfire during a traffic stop east of Springfield, Mo.

A citizens utility committee has decided to recommend that the city council hire Black and Veatch, a Kansas City engineering firm, to conduct a preliminary study as to the feasibility of establishing a municipally operated utility system here.

50 years ago: Feb. 10, 1962

A State College student body ballooning to nearly 2 1/2 times its current size by 1972 is expected to create a demand for more than $13 million in campus construction and spiral operating costs almost threefold; a 10-year expansion program calls for enough new dormitories, classrooms, library space, student center changes and utilities expansion to accommodate the 7,250 students expected by the 1972-1973 school year.

The Marquette-Newman Chapel and Center, 512 N. Pacific St., will be dedicated tomorrow afternoon; an open house will be held, with Bishop Charles H. Helmsing of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese giving a brief dedicatory blessing.

75 years ago: Feb. 10, 1937

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The trek home for refugees from the area to the south of Sikeston affected by back water caused by the high stage of the Mississippi River starts from their haven here; it is expected by the end of the week half of the 3,000 housed here will be gone.

Cairo, Ill., people temporarily housed in Cape Girardeau during the flooding in their hometown are going home, as the ban on the return of women and children has been lifted; danger from the Ohio River flood is considered passed.

100 years ago: Feb. 10, 1912

Operators of the Cape & Jackson Interurban trolley line have installed a block signal system to facilitate the moving of cars; signal boxes were placed at the various switches on the belt line and show red when a car is within the circuit; motormen will be able to tell where other cars are.

John A. Snider returns home from a business trip to St. Louis; he also visited his son, Charles Cover, who is attending school at Westminster College at Fulton, Mo.

-- Sharon K. Sanders