Out of the past 6/18/08

25 years ago: June 18, 1983

Rain dampens festivities at Riverfest in downtown Cape Girardeau; live entertainment gets washed away in the afternoon, but skies clear in the evening and the crowds return for fireworks.

The Cheatham's Furniture Co. of Sikeston, Mo., has leased the old Montgomery Ward building at Main and Independence streets; the Cape Girardeau store will be the second Cheatham's Furniture outlet.

50 years ago: June 18, 1958

The revolving door at the Cape Girardeau post office, probably the last of its kind in town, will no longer trap the unsuspecting; in the partial modernization of the building, the door is to be replaced with the orthodox type.

Edward F. Blomeyer, superintendent of Houck Railroad enterprises for many years, associate of many of the famous men of his generation and a member at one time of both the city council and board of education of Cape Girardeau, dies at the age of 95 at the home of a son, Harris P. Blomeyer, in Peoria, Ill.

75 years ago: June 18, 1933

The Rev. Adie Petzold is ordained to the ministry of the Evangelical Synod at St. John's Evangelical Church near Jackson; he graduated a few days ago from Eden Theological Seminar at Webster Groves, Mo., and served St. John's for several years while a student.

The newly formed Junior Girls Choir, composed of 30 members from 10 to 15 years of age, makes its first appearance in the evening at Grace Methodist Episcopal Church; Mrs. Otto Nothdurft and Flora Deneke are in charge of the group.

100 years ago: June 18, 1908

The predictions in regard to the flood along the Mississippi River grow worse and worse; the crest of the flood isn't expected to arrive until Saturday or Sunday night at a stage slightly over 34 feet.

A start is made on the construction of the sewer system, although it is only preliminary digging with a spade to discover where the old sewer line lies in Merriwether Street; when the pipe is reached, it is found that the river is backing up in the pipe and running out wherever it is given a chance; for that reason, no work will be done on Merriwether until the river subsides.

— Sharon K. Sanders