Out of the past 9/2/08

25 years ago: Sept. 2, 1983

At the urging of Cape Girardeau Downtown Redevelopment Corporation president Charles Hutson, the Downtown Special Business District Advisory Commission voted last night to recommend the levying of a special 85-cent property tax in the business district and the use of the projected $11,417 in revenue to pay the salary of a redevelopment project coordinator.

Ribbon-cutting ceremonies were held at 145 S. Mount Auburn Road yesterday at the new Cape Girardeau quarters of the Cape County Bank of Cape Girardeau.

50 years ago: Sept. 2, 1958

Cape Girardeau public schools record the largest enrollment in their history, 3,628 pupils, a large increase over last year.

JEFFERSON CITY — The Frisco Railway wins state authority to abandon its two night trains between St. Louis and Memphis, Tenn.; the order becomes effective Sept. 16; the Public Service Commission concedes residents of Southeast Missouri would like to have the trains continued but concludes it would be unreasonable to require the railroad to keep them in service when they are operating at a loss of $76,577 a year in Missouri.

75 years ago: Sept. 2, 1933

Forty members of the American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps, accompanied by official delegates from the Louis K. Juden post, go to Jefferson City, Mo., to participate in the annual convention of the state department of the Legion.

E.L. Markharm, Cape Girardeau contractor, is notified at noon by the State Highway Department that he has been awarded a contract for paving 1 1/3 miles of the Bend Road north of Cape Girardeau.

100 years ago: Sept. 2, 1908

Today and tomorrow, and possibly Friday, there will be a huge influx of visitors to Cape Girardeau, the Modern Woodmen coming to attend their convention; residents are urged to fly the national colors and greet the delegates with enthusiasm.

Edna is this week observing the start of work on a manufacturing plant which promises to be one of the largest in Southeast Missouri; the little railroad town eight miles south of Cape Girardeau acquired the box manufacturing plant of W.B. Mesler, which has been in Cobden, Ill., for years.

— Sharon K. Sanders