Out of the past 9/21/07

25 years ago: Sept. 21, 1982

Two Cotton Belt Railroad trains, operated by Cotton Belt supervisors because of the nationwide strike by locomotive engineers, collided with each other near Randles yesterday morning, when the first engine failed to stop on a main line to let the other onto a siding.

The Cape Girardeau Development Corporation acquires 300 acres of industrial park land along Nash Road from Armstrong-Cape Girardeau Inc. of Pennsylvania for $840,000.

50 years ago: Sept. 21, 1957

The building of the floodwall along the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau is attracting a lot of attention as the concrete barrier begins to take shape; work has started near the Frisco freight station on South Main Street and has progressed to a point midway between Merriwether and William streets.

Two members of the City Plan Commission -- chairman Wayne Rust and secretary Thomas L. Meyer -- declare Cape Girardeau's growth will be thwarted if the Missouri State Highway Department goes through with present plans to cut Hopper Road in two, forming a dead-end with the new Interstate Highway 5 about 1 1/2 miles west of the present city limits.

75 years ago: Sept. 21, 1932

A team of large bay horses drawing a Riverside Ice & Fuel Co. ice wagon runs away at 9 a.m., racing six blocks before one of the animals falls in the 400 block of Broadway; they dodge trucks and automobiles as they make their driverless run.

Emma Latimer, owner of the Latimer Secretarial School at 503 Broadway, purchases the Cape Girardeau Business College, located on the second floor of the Buckner-Ragsdale Building on Main Street; the purchase is made from Mr. and Mrs. F.T. Hinkle.

100 years ago: Sept. 21, 1907

The biggest crowd ever in Cape Girardeau was here yesterday to attend the two performances of the Sells-Forepaugh Circus; the two crowds at the performances are estimated at anywhere from 16,000 to 20,000.

Al Ringling, a member of one of the country's great circus families, which now controls the Sells-Forepaugh show, was in Cape Girardeau yesterday.

-- Sharon K. Sanders