Out of the past: April 4

1990

Mayor Gene Rhodes won reelection yesterday to a second, four-year term, defeating Councilman Al Spradling III by a vote of 3,662 to 3,221; Councilman David Limbaugh won reelection; others elected to the council were Mary Wulfers and James "Doug" Richards.

Johnny James became the first black ever elected to public office in the city of Cape Girardeau yesterday, winning a one-year term on the Board of Education; board president Carolyn Kelly and newcomer John Campbell also won seats on the board.

1965

Bishop Eugene M. Frank of St. Louis presides at the consecration of the new education building of Zion Methodist Church at Gordonville in the evening; the new building was recently completed at a cost of $42,000, and contains a chapel, a fellowship hall and kitchen, in addition to study and class rooms.

Three young men were ordained into the priesthood for the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese of the Catholic church yesterday: the Revs. Leonard Chambers of Hot Springs, Arkansas; Floyd W. Winecoff of St. Louis, and James K. Sullivan Jr., of La Grange, Illinois; two other men -- the Rev. Harry C. Schlitt of Cape Girardeau and the Rev. Louis J. Wyrsch of Springfield, Missouri -- were also ordained recently for the Southern Missouri diocese.

1940

Alfred Hirsch, head of Hirsch Bros. Co., 241 S. Sprigg St., is the new president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce for the ensuing year; he succeeds Charles A. Himmelberger.

A general contract has been awarded to Anton Haas to build a gasoline filling station and improve generally the property at Broadway and Harmony Street; Haas will erect the brick building, to be 38 feet long and 26 feet deep, and pave the drives around the new station; once it's completed, the old station on the site will be razed, and the area it occupies will be paved.

1915

Easter Sunday. A better day for Easter celebrations can hardly be desired; the sun comes out in all its glory in the morning and remains on duty all day.

The Centenary Methodist Church congregation celebrates the first use of its new edifice; Dr. Ivan Lee Holt, pastor, delivers a forceful sermon in the morning, while his evening talk is a brief Easter message; the new organ is played satisfactorily by Mrs. Holt.

-- Sharon K. Sanders