Out of the past 4/24/07

25 years ago: April 24, 1982

State park officials and state Rep. Jerry Ford gather at Trail of Tears State Park north of Cape Girardeau to take an aerial look at possible sites for a proposed half-million-dollar interpretive complex; construction of the center, amphitheater and other improvements depend upon the availability of a capital improvements bond issue to be voted on by the legislature next month.

At 6:22 a.m., Ozark Airlines terminates its service to the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport, when its last plane, a 100-passenger DC-9 jet, takes off; Ozark service to Cape Girardeau began 31 years ago.

50 years ago: April 24, 1957

Shoes that will be worn by the six stars of the St. Louis Zoo's Chimpanzee Show were made at the Cape Girardeau No. 2 plant of International Shoe Co., under the supervision of superintendent Hurshel Ross; the shoes cost about $75 a pair.

Initial plans for the celebration of the freeing of the Cape Girardeau traffic bridge on June 29 are made by a Chamber of Commerce committee headed by Richard Brase and James Foster; plans call for the span to become free at 5:30 a.m. that day, and for the toll house to be removed immediately afterward by the State Highway Department.

75 years ago: April 24, 1932

In order to provide additional housing for those to attend the Masonic meeting next week, Teachers College co-eds living at Albert Hall have moved from that dorm to Leming Hall; the entire Albert Hall will be converted into a hotel for the lodge guests.

Operation of the new plant of the Cape Girardeau Memorial Art Works on West Broadway has begun; several car loads of stone have been received, and many of the finished stones are on display in front of the new building.

100 years ago: April 24, 1907

J. Medill McCormick, the publisher of the Chicago Tribune, passes downriver early in the morning on a fine little power boat, the Celeste; McCormick is a young man, but is one of the foremost newspaper publishers in the country.

E.M. Hobbs, the levee sand man of Cape Girardeau, has the contract for getting 4,500 yards of sand for construction of the new shoe factory here; the pump is working overtime.

-- Sharon K. Sanders