Out of the past 6/19/07

25 years ago: June 19, 1982

The fourth annual Cape Girardeau Riverfest is held on the banks of the Mississippi River, with a crowd estimated at between 15,000 to 25,000; activities include arts and crafts displays, music, a water ski show, plenty to eat, and tours of old St. Vincent's Church and the Glenn House.

The drive to raise funds for the development of a park on the Mississippi riverfront in Cape Girardeau gets a hefty boost, when Phil Brown, general sales manager of Bluff City Beer Co., presents a $2,500 check on behalf of the company to Fred C. Springer, co-chairman of the fund-raising committee.

50 years ago: June 19, 1957

Ray J. Hill, 45, an asphalt company employee, dies about 15 minutes after he is stung on the face by a wasp on the porch of his home six miles northeast of Cape Girardeau on the old Bainbridge road.

C.W. Boutin, Cape Girardeau member of the State Park Board, is informed by Attorney General John Dalton that title to Trail of Tears State Park is clear and unencumbered and has been accepted by the state.

75 years ago: June 19, 1932

Members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau observe their annual mission festival; three guest speakers, including the Rev. R.J.I. Mueller, pastor of the Lutheran church at Uniontown, Mo., draw large crowds.

Two young adventurers, off on an 1,100-mile skiff cruise down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, leave Cape Girardeau at 1 p.m.; the lads are Dale Summers, a student of Teachers College, and Clarence Henderson of Pocahontas, Ark., where Summers also resides.

100 years ago: June 19, 1907

Good news circulates in Cape Girar-deau; a prominent Main Street merchant has received intelligence that the superintendent of this division of the Frisco Railroad has an order directing him to proceed with the rebuilding of the car-repair shops in this city in the near future; when the old shops burned last fall, close to 100 men were thrown out of employment here.

The Appleton soda factory is again in operation; Willie Wucher has installed all new machinery and is turning out a fine product.

-- Sharon K. Sanders