Out of the past 6/17/08

25 years ago: June 17, 1983

The Rev. W.T. Handy Jr., bishop of the Missouri area of the United Methodist Church, participated yesterday in the consecration of the new Hobbs-Wesley parsonage at 1016 Shady Lane and in the consecration of the new Hobbs Chapel Education Building on Bend Road.

Big crowds and hot weather are the order of the day as Riverfest kicks off in downtown Cape Girardeau; in the 5.4-mile Stroh's-Kohlfeld Riverfest Run, Fred Binggeli is the men's winner and Wendy Hager the women's among 152 finishers.

50 years ago: June 17, 1958

Immediate removal of a bridge across Walker Creek and a study of a long-range program for a levee or drainage district to provide the Galladay Addition with flood relief was promised a delegation of its residents yesterday by the city council.

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education has selected Fred E. Dormeyer Jr. to do the architectural work and supervise construction on a new elementary school to serve the northwest area of the city; his employment, however, is dependent upon location of a street to the building.

75 years ago: June 17, 1933

The low point in the cost of building materials has passed and the price pendulum is taking a sharp swing back, adding several hundred dollars to the cost of the average new dwelling or other building to be erected in Cape Girardeau.

The committee which has been handling the unemployment situation in Cape Girardeau County wants every truck driver who registered last fall and winter to report at the gravel pit one mile south of Gravel Hill Monday morning; the hauling of gravel on the newly graded highway, Route 34, will begin at that time.

100 years ago: June 17, 1908

Mr. and Mrs. L.B. Houck return at noon from Freeport, Ill., where they have been for two weeks; Houck spent much of that time watching the finishing touches being placed on the new motor car for the Cape Girardeau & Chester Railroad.

At last night's Cape Girardeau City Council meeting, councilman George Meyer reported that only 25 lots remain in the city cemetery for white people and 15 for black people.

— Sharon K. Sanders