Out of the past 7/18/09

25 years ago: July 18, 1984

Staff Sgt. Bob Niederloh is the new Air Force recruiter in Cape Girardeau; the six-year Air Force veteran is a native of Oakville, Mo., a suburb of south St. Louis.

The Cape Girardeau City Council votes unanimously to locate the $13 million multipurpose building on the old university farm property at New Madrid and Sprigg streets.

50 years ago: July 18, 1959

A retail store of the Goodwill Industries, an organization to provide employment, training and rehabilitation for handicapped and disabled men and women, will open Sept. 17 at 115 Themis St.

Cape Girardeau businesses are again urged to join with the Retail Merchants Association in its efforts to have the American flag fly in front of every business house on holidays; Patterson Flag Co. of Carbondale, Ill., will provide the flags at a cost of $10 per year for each participating business place.

75 years ago: July 18, 1934

Broken only by spotty showers, the drought in Cape Girardeau County is bearing down; besides cutting the chances for a return on field and garden crops, it has limited the supply of water for drinking purposes and home needs.

Mayor Edward L. Drum, commissioners Harry Coffman, Frank Batchelor and Paul Brooks, and Harry B. Newman, manager of the Missouri Utilities Co. here, drive over the city viewing the trolley line, with the view of getting an estimate of changes necessary and costs of putting streets in proper condition in the event street cars service is suspended.

100 years ago: July 18, 1909

Open-air services are conducted at twilight on the lawn at the Presbyterian church, the congregation enjoying the coolness and comfort the shade provides.

The remains of professor H.M. Ivy, who met death in a runaway accident at Richmond, Mo., last September and was buried in that city, were brought back to Cape Girardeau yesterday for interment.

-- Sharon K. Sanders