Out of the past: July 4

1991

Independence Day. The Jackson Jaycees hold a day-long event in Jackson City Park; the celebration in particular honors veterans of Operation Desert Storm; shortly after the parade starts, a silver Air Force Mustang flies over the route three times; guest speaker at the celebration is U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson.

Fireworks are big business during the day, but may have caused a house fire in Cape Girardeau; the fire occurs at a four-room house at 511 LaCruz St.; fireworks debris is found in the yard of the home, which is a total loss.

1966

The annual, two-day American Legion Fourth of July picnic at Arena Park comes to a climactic end with a fireworks display; attendance for the event is put at about 10,000.

Two Cape Girardeau Senior Girl Scouts have been selected to attend a campus conference on leadership to be held in August at the Leadership Training Center, University of Oklahoma at Norman; they are Lou Ann Diehl, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley G. Diehl, and Mary Jane Seay, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John G. Seay.

1941

Business generally suspends in Cape Girardeau in observance of Independence Day; feature of the day is the annual picnic of the American Legion staged at Fairground Park; along with the usual picnic activities are military drills by the home guard and local units of the National Guard; Brig.-Gen. Lewis M. Means offers the main address, and fireworks close the day's festivities.

The County Court, at its meeting Monday, will fix the date for a special election at which voters of Cape Girardeau County will ballot on a proposal to issue $65,000 in bonds to secure construction of an airport; the port, estimated to cost more than $250,000, would be built near Dutchtown.

1916

The biggest Fourth of July celebration Cape Girardeau has ever witnessed kicks off with a grand automobile parade in the morning; the program at the fairground includes games and races for the children, a lunch time feast for all, motorcycle races, a midway with the usual attractions, a dance at the clubhouse, a barbecue dinner in the evening and a fireworks finale.

Picnics are scattered all over Cape Girardeau County; the Baptist church at Jackson unites with the Baptist church of Oak Ridge on the old Shaner farm and the two stage a fine picnic; the picnic at the Zion Lutheran Church, three miles west of Gordonville, proves a success in every way, with the Jackson orchestra furnishing the music; another picnic is held at Talley's Grove, with a large crowd in attendance.

-- Sharon K. Sanders