Out of the past 5/28/08

25 years ago: May 28, 1983

A parade kicks off the Advance (Mo.) Centennial Celebration; other activities marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Stoddard County town are costume contests for youngsters and for people over 55.

Gene E. Huckstep, president of the Huckstep Corp. and presiding judge of the Cape Girardeau County Court, has been elected chairman of the board of directors of Saint Francis Medical Center.

50 years ago: May 28, 1958

The Ellis-Wathen-Ranney house on North Main Street, an outstanding example of early colonial architecture and one of the oldest residences in Cape Girardeau, is apparently doomed for destruction; the 118-year-old house sits empty and dilapidated; the owner, W.Z. Oxenhandler of St. Louis, is offering it for sale; however, if it doesn't sell, plans are to raze it and construct a commercial building on the site.

A bolt of lightning last evening triggered a raging fire that destroyed most of the stock of the Cape Boating Co. at 10 N. Sprigg St., reducing the interior of the building to a jumbled mass of debris.

75 years ago: May 28, 1933

The war dead buried here are remembered in Memorial Day services; both the speaker in the afternoon at Old Lorimier Cemetery, Rush H. Limbaugh, and the Rev. Reinhart Lehmann at the Christ Evangelical Church at night remind listeners of the tragedies and heavy toll of war.

Dr. B.A. Wilkes, retired superintendent of Southeast Missouri Hospital, will leave Tuesday for his home in Hollywood, Calif., to join his wife, who went there two weeks ago.

100 years ago: May 28, 1908

Quite a few people from the Fruitland neighborhood meet at McKendree Chapel for a picnic and to clean up the premises; the old church is said to be the first Methodist church built west of the Mississippi River; probably because of contentions between the two branches of the church, the property hasn't received the care it deserves and it is left to the care of neighbors.

The Landgraf Bros. have opened a lumber yard at Pocahontas and are prepared to furnish almost anything in the building line.

-- Sharon K. Sanders