Out of the past 8/20/08

25 years ago: Aug. 20, 1983

Sears Roebuck and Co. has signed an agreement extending its lease on its retail store in the Town Plaza Shopping Center for another five years.

Fifteen buildings on the Southeast Missouri State University campus, including three residence halls, have been found to contain potentially hazardous asbestos materials; students who have signed contracts to live in Dearmont Quadrangle, Towers Complex or Group Housing have been told they can seek release from their housing agreements.

50 years ago: Aug. 20, 1958

A section of the original concrete wall along the Mississippi River is being wrecked to make way for the new floodwall; the original wall was built in 1916 by the Frisco Railroad to permit the filling of the area where the passenger station now stands.

Paul R. Williams, committeeman from Cape Girardeau's Ward 4, was elected to head the Democratic party in the county the next two years during a meeting yesterday at Jackson; that evening, Stone Manes, a committeeman from the Byrd 4 precinct at Jackson, was re-elected Republican party chairman in Cape Girardeau County.

75 years ago: Aug. 20, 1933

A joint worship service of the Lutheran Church at Sedgewickville, Mo., and the new English Church, United Lutheran, is held in the morning at the latter's quarters at 900A Broadway in Cape Girardeau; the two congregations hold a picnic dinner after the service.

A $1,800 note, which has been met by members of Centenary Methodist Church in their efforts to pay off church indebtedness, is burned during the morning service by Dr. Marion N. Waldrip, the pastor.

100 years ago: Aug. 20, 1908

The gentlemen who recently secured an option to buy the smelter plant are in Cape Girardeau with an eastern iron manufacturer investigating economic conditions here; a trip is made to the smelter property in the morning, and the afternoon is spent touring the city.

The Cotton Belt Railroad's incline at Bird's Point is rapidly being washed out by the Mississippi River; in order to handle the traffic of the railroads, it will be necessary to transfer the freight between Cairo, Ill., and Belmont, Mo., by boat.

-- Sharon K. Sanders