Out of the past 9/28/06

25 years ago: Sept. 28, 1981

The number two man in the Cape Girardeau Police Department, Capt. Donald R. Roberts, will become the interim chief of the department effective Thursday, it is announced at a special meeting of the city council; Roberts, who has been a police officer here since February 1955, will be the temporary replacement of retiring Chief Henry H. Gerecke.

More than $100,000 worth of improvements will be made in the coming months at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport as a result of the city council resolving at a special session to accept a Federal Aviation Administration grant.

50 years ago: Sept. 28, 1956

Mercury vapor lights for the Main-Spanish business area and for Broadway east of Pacific Street are expected to be in operation about Nov. 1, according to officials with the Missouri Utilities Co.; crews have been at work for some time erecting higher poles along the two business areas preparatory to placing of the new lighting system.

BENTON, Mo. -- The Missouri Conservation Commission agrees to take over a location in Scott County for construction of a lake and development of a picnic area, provided the land is presented to it with a clear title.

75 years ago: Sept. 28, 1931

Approximately 1,500 people gathered at Cuskaden Field on Highway 61 yesterday to watch "Speedy" Kimberlin jump from a flying airplane without a parachute; the feat was done by jumping after the plane was about six feet off the ground, while it was estimated to have been traveling at a rate of 60 miles per hour.

Door-to-door freight delivery service will be inaugurated in Cape Girardeau by the Frisco Railroad Thursday morning; such service will also be established at other points throughout the territory served by the railroad.

100 years ago: Sept. 28, 1906

Commercial Club president M.E. Leming receives a letter from a member of a large carriage and furniture material house in St. Louis, who wishes to locate a factory in Cape Girardeau; the letter indicates the city can obtain a wheel factory which would employ 75 well-salaried people at the start.

The Rev. J.C. Lotz, German Evangelical preacher of near Gordonville, has moved 12 wagon loads of furniture to Cape Girardeau to be transported to Ellis Grove, Ill., where he has taken a pastorate; he will take the 12 members of his family with him.

-- Sharon K. Sanders