Out of the past 3/17/10

25 years ago: March 17, 1985

St. Mary's Cathedral will get a new interior look this summer; thanks to the generosity of the late Rose Brugger, the church will be redecorated by stripping pews down to their natural finish and painting and restoration work in the balcony and downstairs.

Morrill Construction Inc., one of the major construction firms in the area, is in its new headquarters at 840 S. Kingshighway; the location was for many years headquarters for the Burton J. Gerhardt Contracting Corp.

50 years ago: March 17, 1960

Teachers, who jam Houck Field House from gymnasium floor to topmost bleacher seat, are admonished not to be clock watchers and to sell themselves to their pupils at the opening session of the 84th annual meeting of the Southeast Missouri Teachers Association; speaking at the morning session is Cylvia A. Sorkin, business consultant, economist and former professor at Washington University.

Mayor Walter H. Ford says he will summon the city council into session as soon as possible to plan a vigorous protest of the proposal of the Frisco Railroad to discontinue its remaining passenger service through Cape Girardeau.

75 years ago: March 17, 1935

Christ H. Haman, 71, a widely known dairy farmer, dies in the evening at his home on U.S. 61 west of Cape Girardeau; he had been a progressive dairy farmer and stockman for many years and maintained a modern farm.

A freakish one-farm cyclone hit at the Louis Albrecht place, a mile southeast of Illmo, late yesterday; it badly damaged buildings on the farm, twisted fruit trees out of the ground, but permitted members of the family to escape unhurt.

100 years ago: March 17, 1910

The coffee urn in the Palace restaurant on Broadway seems bent on destruction; it explodes for a second time in two months at noon; Fred Fox, the restaurant chef, is lighting the urn when the gasoline ignites and causes the explosion; the urn is demolished, and Fox suffers slight burns to his right hand.

Articles of incorporation have been granted to the Illmo Hotel Co., with a capital stock of $5,000; incorporators are D.T. Doty, J.B. Quigley and J.R. Young.

-- Sharon K. Sanders