Out of the past 7/2/11

25 years ago: July 2, 1986

Severe weather last evening contributed to the death of a Kelso, Mo., man who died when a partial roof of the house he was building was knocked over by a "mini-tornado"; as the storm traveled across Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, high winds injured a man and his infant son and destroyed their mobile home in Benton, Mo., and contributed to the death of a motorist and the injuries of four others in Williamston County, Illinois.

The Independence Street bridge closes in the afternoon as work gets underway on replacement of the structure; demolition of the span is set to begin tomorrow.

50 years ago: July 2, 1961

The Rev. E.D. Owen, who for more than 20 years has been pastor of the First Baptist Church at Sikeston, Mo., and formerly was pastor of First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau, recently received the honorary degree of doctor of divinity from William Jewell College; Owen has been a Baptist minister for almost 50 years.

Dianna Farnham, a recent graduate of the Presbyterian Church of Christian Education at Richmond, Va., is the new director of Christian education and campus Christian life director with First Presbyterian Church here.

75 years ago: July 2, 1936

Designed to yield $30,000 in annual revenue to the city, an ordinance providing for a 1 percent privilege tax on gross retail sales and service was given its first and second readings yesterday by the Cape Girardeau City Council; it has been reported for some time that drastic revenue measures would be necessary to pull the city out of its financial mire.

Crop prospects in Southeast Missouri blaze high on the heels of rain which added millions of dollars in value to corn and cotton throughout the district.

100 years ago: July 2, 1911

The Rev. G. Beyers, a student of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, preaches in the German language at the morning worship service at Trinity Lutheran Church; the evening service is suspended.

CAIRO, Ill. -- Thirty houses were burned yesterday afternoon, rendering homeless several hundred mill hands residing in Future City, a settlement adjoining the lumber district of North Cairo; originating in a general store on the county road, the flames swept across the town to the Illinois Central Railroad bridge junction.

-- Sharon K. Sanders