Out of the past 4/19/06

25 years ago: April 19, 1981

Easter Sunday. Sunrise services are celebrated by a number of Cape Girardeau churches, including Faith Tabernacle Church and Evangelical United Church of Christ; the 45th annual Bald Knob Easter sunrise service is also held near Alto Pass, Ill., with Dr. Tom Haggai of High Point, N.C., as guest speaker.

The Southeast Community Choir presents a concert in the evening at Old St. Vincent's Church; soloists are John Bowen, Dina Strickert and Delores Krauss.

50 years ago: April 19, 1956

Actions of the Missouri Senate appropriations committee Wednesday in allotting Cape Girardeau State College $2,690,000 out of the $75,000,000 bond issue likely means that the school will get three new buildings; these probably will be a new science building, a physical education building for women and a practical arts building, which would be an addition to the present agriculture building.

Cape Girardeau City Council members, faced with making a decision that will stick for four years, are taking their time and listening to suggestions before they appoint a mayor to succeed Narvol A. Randol, who will resign on May 1 to take a position with Farmers & Merchants Bank.

75 years ago: April 19, 1931

The site of Old Bethel Baptist Church, the first Baptist church west of the Mississippi River, four miles west of Cape Girardeau, will be restored; this decision was made at the regular quarterly meeting of the Cape Girardeau Baptist Sunday School Association, which met Friday at Gravel Hill; the grounds will be cleaned up and beautified, and a large stage will be built in the grove where the ancient church stood.

Several members of Headquarters and Service Companies of the Missouri National Guard are present at a special annual service for the 140th Infantry at the Baptist Church at Chaffee, Mo.; Maj. Blount F. Davidson, pastor of the church and chaplain of the 140th, conducts this service each year for the infantry group.

100 years ago: April 19, 1906

The Daily Republican publishes its first "extra," telling of the devastating earthquake that struck San Francisco; 100 copies of the edition were printed, possibly the first extra ever in Cape Girardeau.

One of the worried men in Cape Girardeau is Henry Hauenschild, who is employed at Vasterling's coal yard; his sister, Clara Hauenschild, has been living in Oakland, Calif., for five years; no word has yet been received from her.

-- Sharon K. Sanders