Out of the past 9/3/10

25 years ago: Sept. 3, 1985

Cape Girardeau public schools open for the new school year; first-day enrollment totals 4,066 children.

The Cape Girardeau City Council gives city manager Gary Eide the go-ahead to erect 13 signs pointing the way to Southeast Missouri State University; the signs are expected to alleviate many of the difficulties students, parents and people attending sporting events have in finding the campus.

50 years ago: Sept. 3, 1960

More than 150 spectators wait an hour at Honkers Boat Docks in the morning but are treated to a half-hour of excitement as motor boats participating in the Mississippi River marathon race between St. Louis and New Orleans make hectic refueling stops and then race on; a heavy fog in St. Louis delays the start of the race.

Cape Girardeau County fruit growers estimate that by the end of the Labor Day holiday major orchards in the county will have harvested 40,000 to 50,000 bushels of prime peaches.

75 years ago: Sept. 3, 1935

For the third consecutive year Cape Girardeau's American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps wins the state championship; repeating their past two years' performances to an even finer degree, the Missouri Golden Troopers successfully defended their title at the state Legion convention at Columbia with the almost perfect score of 98.2 points.

Two more project applications by the city of Cape Girardeau are forwarded to the district Works Progress Administration; one project calls for construction of four pools, one a large swimming pool, and the three others wading pools for children in different sections of the city; other WPA funding would repair sidewalks here and remodel the Common Pleas Courthouse.

100 years ago: Sept. 3, 1910

An informal meeting of the city council is held in the morning to consider the proposition made by the Frisco Railroad; the road, whose franchise with Cape Girardeau has expired, is proposing several improvements to the riverfront.

Judge R.L. Wilson has returned from his vacation in Kentucky, but his wife and their daughter will remain about a week longer visiting friends in Louisville.

-- Sharon K. Sanders