Out of the past 8/11/11

25 years ago: Aug. 11, 1986

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will take the first steps in developing plans and specifications for an 1,800-foot slackwater harbor at the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority next week; the St. Louis office of the corps has received $155,000 for plans and will begin surveying the site Monday.

The county commission says it will attempt to appoint five members to the board of the county health department before the end of next month so that there will be plenty of time to get the new agency set up by the end of the year.

50 years ago: Aug. 11, 1961

Gov. John M. Dalton has notified the Cape County Soil Conservation District he has approved a watershed plan for the Hubble Creek watershed area, clearing the way for preliminary field investigations and eventual curbing of heavy flooding which has repeatedly damaged farms within the district.

The first section of concrete of the new St. Paul Lutheran Church at Jackson was poured this week; because of soil conditions, it was necessary to put down piers, which delayed construction for two or three weeks.

75 years ago: Aug. 11, 1936

In keeping with a forced move to reduce city expenditures arranged at a council meeting Monday, Mayor Charles G. Wilson announces three police officers will be laid off: Capt. Charles Schweer, patrolman Pink Niswonger and special officer Leo Slagle.

James N. Alsop, 70, inventor of the internationally used Alsop process for bleaching flour, dies at a local hospital; Alsop was a native of Kentucky; 40 years ago he invented the flour-bleaching process and, after some time, it was adopted by mills all over the country; the Cape County Milling Co. at Jackson was the first to install it.

100 years ago: Aug. 11, 1911

Judging from the exodus from this city for the county seat, Cape Girardeau Day at the Homecomers festivities is a hummer; the trains on the Cape Girardeau & Chester Railroad carry big loads every trip; automobiles and vehicles of every kind have been going all day.

Paul Phillips arrives at noon to join the pitching staff of the Cape Girardeau Stars; he has been twirling in Arkansas since leaving here in June.

-- Sharon K. Sanders