Out of the past: Nov. 24

1992

Heavy rains last week caused the Mississippi River here to rise 7 feet since Sunday; it is expected to push the river above flood stage later this week for the first time since July 1990, although no serious flooding is expected.

Southeast Missouri State University plans to renovate two of its four high-rise Towers dormitories in a move designed to completely change living space within the residence halls; the $11 million project will mark the first renovation of the Towers complex since its construction 25 years ago.

1967

Mayor J. Hugh Logan announces the names of four new members of the Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission: William L. Bowers, George H. Wrape, Robert F. Hemperley and Milton George; Ivan L. Irvin is named a new member of the advisory board.

Independence Street from Keller Avenue to U.S. 61 will be widened by a tentative 10 feet, with work possibly beginning in the spring; only preliminary field work, such as surveying, has been done on the project; tentative plans call for the present 26-foot pavement to be widened 5 feet on each side to a 36-foot stretch.

1942

Chief Charles A. Schweer, in charge of guards at the Army airfield on U.S. 61, says three officers are now on duty with him, and others will be employed later from a long list of applicants; those now on the job are Ivan Hobbs, Louis Burger and Jesse Logel.

A bronze plaque, honoring the memory of Mary Langdon Frizel Russell, one of the founders of Christ Episcopal Church, was dedicated Sunday morning at the church; the plaque, mounted inside the building, was presented as a memorial by her three granddaughters, Mrs. C.A. Vandivort of Cape Girardeau and Mrs. J.C. Ingraham and Mrs. Frank Magill of St. Louis; Russell, who was born in 1821 and died in 1895, was the first woman baptized in an Episcopal Church in this section of the state.

1917

The officers of the Home Guard company here have requested each member bring with him to the drill hall at Central High School next Monday evening at least one good, patriotic, energetic man; in order that the men may secure uniforms at as low a price as possible and in order for the government to send military equipment to the company, it is necessary it be recruited to about its normal strength at once.

John Stanley, a veteran of the Civil War, died Wednesday at his home near Shawneetown at the age of 73 years; Stanley was born in Virginia and was living there when the war broke out; he joined the Union Army and was captured by the forces of Robert E. Lee; he was probably the only man living in this county who saw the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Courthouse.

-- Sharon K. Sanders