Out of the past 9/18/07

25 years ago: Sept. 18, 1982

The Union soldier atop the fountain in Courthouse Park looks as fresh as the day he assumed his post in 1911, thanks to a lot of volunteer labor provided primarily by the Cape Girardeau Fire Department; the restored fountain's new recirculating pump was switched on yesterday.

An organization calling itself S.O.S. (Save Our Sundays) has emerged in Cape Girardeau to battle an earlier-established group -- the Open Sundays Committee, which is pushing for abolition of the Sunday Blue Laws in Cape Girardeau County.

50 years ago: Sept. 18, 1957

Failure of the state to sell its $30,000,000 block of bonds voted two years ago will have the effect of delaying the building program at State College for months, perhaps years, says president Mark Scully.

The State Highway Department has tentatively provided entrances to, or crossings over, the proposed interstate highway for the major roads leading to Cape Girardeau from the west, but has cut Hopper Road in two and has no plans for it to cross the superhighway.

75 years ago: Sept. 18, 1932

The McKendree Chapel Memorial Association is formed at a meeting in Jackson, with Judge Frank Kelly as president, R.M. McCombs as vice president and Arthur F. Deneke as secretary-treasurer; a $10 membership fee will go to rehabilitating and preserving Old McKendree Chapel.

Evangelistic services at Red Star Baptist Church begin and will continue at least two weeks; the Rev. W.E. Hicks, pastor, preaches at the morning and evening services; beginning tomorrow night, the Rev. E.M. Zipprodt, pastor of the church at Flat River, Mo., will have charge of the services.

100 years ago: Sept. 18, 1907

Dennis Harrigan, the star pitcher for the Capahas, was seriously injured yesterday at Chaffee, Mo.; his leg was badly wrenched when he was thrown to the ground as he attempted to board a train.

The Bergmann-Bartels Mercantile Co. has started work on a big addition to the store; it will be built on the lot to the west of the building; the dry goods department will occupy the new room.

-- Sharon K. Sanders