Out of the past 7/24/07

25 years ago: July 24, 1982

Expansion of the production areas and enlargement of the work force to bring employment up to an all-time peak has been set in motion by Thorngate Ltd. in Cape Girardeau; to be accomplished over the next few months, the expansion will entail employment of some 300 additional production workers.

Walter Kosin of St. Louis, owner of a chain of steak and lobster restaurants, plans to erect a building and open one of the restaurants in Cape Girardeau; Big K Steak and Lobster will be built in a triangular area between South Kingshighway and Interstate 55.

50 years ago: July 24, 1957

Extension of the city limit lines to include burgeoning construction outside is under study by the City Plan Commission, says chairman Wayne Rust; commission members want to extend the limit lines westward to include the new interstate highway, which will be constructed within the next few years; Rust says the boundary won't go beyond this route.

In Charleston, Mo., a safe containing about $400 and a number of valuable papers is taken from the Graham Bros. Market here; places in two different ditches near Charleston are found where thieves make unsuccessful attempts to open it.

75 years ago: July 24, 1932

A "dry drive" throughout Cape Girardeau County to cover the remaining days before the primary election is launched at a meeting at the courthouse in Jackson; speakers at the meeting are P.A. Tate, state superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League, and Mrs. Lon O. Hocker of St. Louis, president of the Daughters of the American Constitution.

Beatrice Buchanan and Mrs. Geneva Lawson Goodman, both of Cape Girar-deau, drown in the Diversion Channel, when they step into deep water.

100 years ago: July 24, 1907

No clouds mar the sky as Girardeans view an eclipse of the moon; starting about 8 p.m., the shadow of the earth on the moon grows larger slowly, until at 9 nearly one-half of the surface of the disk is obscured.

Officers of Company K are elected for the ensuing year: captain, Dr. M.A. Grissom; first lieutenant, Wilson Bain; second lieutenant, L.L. Bowman.

-- Sharon K. Sanders