Out of the past 4/5/10

25 years ago: April 5, 1985

The Cape Girardeau City Council decides in a closed-door meeting to appeal a Circuit Court ruling prohibiting the city from involvement in the construction and operation of a multipurpose building with Southeast Missouri State University.

One of the first new building projects of this year's construction season will be an expansion program, including a new recreation and services building, and renovation of the existing property of the First Baptist Church, 926 Broadway.

50 years ago: April 5, 1960

A one-foot rise overnight sends the Mississippi River to 34.7 feet on the riverfront gauge at Cape Girardeau; the high water at its current stage isn't expected to do major damage, although it will do some to the unfinished riverside construction of the flood-control project along Water Street.

A 55-gallon gasoline drum explodes on the State College campus at 8:57 a.m., throwing flames high in the air and causing considerable damage to a truck-trailer, high voltage lines and a utility pole which holds the lines.

75 years ago: April 5, 1935

When the new Cape Girardeau Board of Education organized last night, B. Hugh Smith, a lawyer and two-term member of the board, was elected chairman; Hugo A. Lang was chosen vice president.

Removal of the main district office of the Community Power & Light Co., the controlling company for three private utility firms in Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas, from St. Louis to Cape Girardeau is announced by R.G. Taber, vice president of the firm and president of Missouri Utilities Co.

100 years ago: April 5, 1910

Capt. W.H. Thorwegan, manager of the Columbia Excursion Co. of St. Louis, has obtained the steamer Grey Eagle from the Eagle Packet Co. for the excursion business this season; it replaces the City of Providence, which sank below Carondelet, Mo., in January.

Our townsman, A.R. Ponder, who has been in Texas for the past year building a railroad, has completed the job; the finishing of the road in Carrizo Springs, Texas, was the occasion for a jollification on the part of the residents; the railroad, the Crystal City & Uvalde, is 53 miles long.

-- Sharon K. Sanders