Out of the past: May 25

1992

Memorial Day. About 250 people gather at Cape County Park North under heavy, gray-bottomed clouds to observe Memorial Day; guest speaker for the service is retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charles Woodford.

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- The Rock Springs Free Will Baptist Church, about four miles from Olive Branch in Rock Springs Hollow, is leveled by fire early in the morning. It is hoped the Illinois state fire marshal will be able to determine the cause of the blaze, but with no walls left standing, his task will be difficult.

1967

The 300 block of Broadway remains closed to traffic, but workers are placing fresh concrete over an opening in the street; for the past few days, the street has been closed to traffic to permit workers to install manholes for utility connections to serve the new federal building.

Bartholomew and Associates of St. Louis recommended to city officials last night the downtown area of Main Street be converted into a pedestrian mall, with Water and Spanish streets carrying the bulk of vehicular traffic in the area.

1942

Mrs. Oscar O'Daniell of Cape Girardeau receives a letter from the War Department notifying her that her brother, Thomas L. Penrod, one of seven Cape Girardeau soldiers to have been on Bataan in the Philippines, is "missing in action."

Pvt. Lawrence Seyer, home on a 10-day leave from Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, was the honored guest at a dinner yesterday at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand Seyer of Cape Girardeau. When he returns to duty, he will be sent to Fort Crook, Nebraska, for three months' training as a mechanic.

1917

Joe Moore, a substitute clerk in the post office, enlists at the local recruiting station for the signal corps of the Army; he will leave here Tuesday morning for St. Louis to take his final examinations.

Two United States destroyers, the Warden and the Macdonough, are expected to be docked at Cairo, Illinois, next Tuesday; the chamber of commerce of that city is making big preparations to entertain the visiting officers and jackies; several automobile parties may attend from Cape Girardeau.

-- Sharon K. Sanders