Out of the past: Oct. 25

1992

Pumpkins -- 35,000 pounds of pumpkins -- along with bales and bales of straw make up Pumpkin Village at Cape Girardeau's Town Plaza; Mike Redfearn, owner of Party Palace, is operating the attraction for the Town Plaza Merchants Association; a maze is free, while pumpkins, Indian corn, gourds, carving kits and other seasonal items are being sold.

Toys R Us opened Friday in Cape Girardeau; the large toy retailer occupies 30,000 square feet of the 80,000-square-foot structure at Silver Springs Road which formerly housed Walmart.

1967

Perry and Cape Girardeau counties are recovering from damage caused by high winds, described as twisters, which struck in scattered spots over the area yesterday afternoon; Highway 61 south of Longtown, Missouri, was blocked for a short time just before 2 p.m., when a twister there picked up a metal grain bin from between two barns and blew it across the highway.

Plans are in the making to restore as far as possible the 143-year-old Old Appleton Mill on Apple Creek following acquisition of the property by L.L. Buchheit and Leo Baer of Old Appleton and Reginald Gerhardt of Cape Girardeau; it was formerly owned by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Schultz of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.

1942

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Damage estimated at $75,000 occurs in a business district fire in the evening in which the Shainberg general store is razed; fire walls save the Woolworth store, to the east, and the Graber store, to the west, from heavy damage; all face south on Front Street.

Arriving Friday night, Ensign William H. Parker is spending his furlough with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. W.W. Parker of Wildwood, until Wednesday; he will then report to Norfolk, Virginia, for active duty on Oct. 31; young Parker was among 753 ensigns who were commissioned as deck officers in the Naval Reserve last week after completing a three-month course at the midshipman school at Columbia University.

1917

Southeast Missouri teachers arrive on every train, while scores of others are making the trip to Cape Girardeau in automobiles for the annual teachers meeting; opening session of the convention will be held this evening; in past years, the first evening was given over to speeches, but this time the visitors will be entertained with a grand concert by Merl and Bechtel Alcock, contralto and tenor, respectively.

Gottfried Gross and Frank Ruh, proprietors of a saloon in Haarig, are making preparations for opening a restaurant and grocery store in the Miles building, corner of Good Hope and Frederick streets.

-- Sharon K. Sanders