Out of the past 4/6/06

25 years ago: April 6, 1981

Fire guts one apartment and causes heavy smoke and water damage to two others in the upper portion of a two-story building at 609 Good Hope St.; the fire may have started in a mattress or coach in a rear apartment; the building is adjacent to VIP Industries recycling center and until recently housed a motorcycle parts store.

Cape Girardeau police chief Henry H. Gerecke has submitted a request that he be allowed to retire from his post effective at the end of June, according to City Councilman Donald H. Strohmeyer; two other members of the council also indicate that an announcement concerning Gerecke's position is imminent; however, both city manager Gary Eide and Gerecke are noncommittal on the issue.

50 years ago: April 6, 1956

An election to incur an indebtedness of $425,000 for a new elementary school and for improvements to existing facilities has been set for May 15 by the Cape Girardeau Board of Education; the cost of the new school, to be built on Minnesota Avenue south of Bloomfield Road, will be approximately $365,000.

Guided by Henry Perry, 68, and Bern Rodenberry, 72, of Oriole, a group of Cape Girardeau County residents toured the proposed site of Trail of Tears State Park yesterday; they hiked from Vancil's Hollow through the woods, traveling eastward toward the Mississippi River.

75 years ago: April 6, 1931

Capt. Wilbur Powell of the Salvation Army says he has 100 loads of firewood on hand, which will be available to the poor of the community, if funds for its transportation to homes of the needy are provided; the wood was sawed and made into stove lengths this winter by men who received grocery orders in return for their work; the wood was donated to the Army by the Marquette Cement Mfg. Co.

Word is received in Cape Girardeau of the death of Dr. Henry E. Rowan, 50, at Champaign, Ill.; Rowan, a black physician, was a native of Cape Girardeau, but had lived away from here for many years.

100 years ago: April 6, 1906

The well known meat market which has been conducted at 39 S. Spanish St. by Conrad Lind for a long time has been transferred to F.E. Schrader.

F.A. Kage, U.S. commissioner, receives a letter from federal officials in St. Louis asking him to secure six rooms in one of Cape Girardeau's hotels for them; they will arrive here Sunday and will convene federal court Monday morning; there are about a dozen cases to be tried.

-- Sharon K. Sanders