Out of the past: Sept. 21

1991

About 120 people participate in the annual, two-day apple-butter cooking at Evangelical United Church; the making of apple butter by the congregation has been a tradition since 1975; proceeds from the sale of the product go to the church.

M.J.'s on Main, a jewelry and accessories store, has opened at 108 N. Main St.; Mary Jo Richmond is the owner, and Susan Seawell is manager.

1966

Arthur Gerhardt of Long Beach, California, the building contractor who erected Southeast Missouri Hospital, the Marquette Hotel and many other major buildings in Cape Girardeau, is here for a two-week visit with his family; Gerhardt left Cape Girardeau on Jan. 3, 1938.

A project to raise the level of the outfield areas of the two Capaha Park baseball fields and to grade the surface to promote drainage will begin when weather permits; the undertaking will involve the hauling of about 3,000 yards of dirt, which will raise the level of the outfields about 18 inches at their lowest points.

1941

Old Methodist hymns, which everyone knows, are featured in congregational singing at the annual service at Old McKendree Methodist Chapel in the afternoon; the sermon is delivered by the Rev. W.L. Meyer, pastor of New McKendree Methodist Church, which on this day begins a week's observance of a century of Methodism in Jackson.

Closing out the big SEMO District Fair in the afternoon is the final society horse show in front of the grandstand; the jumping horses, which didn't arrive in time to perform Friday, were added to last night's program, as well as to today's.

1916

Harry W. Hicks, formerly a lad of Commerce, Missouri, was a member of the crew of the USS Memphis, which was washed ashore and destroyed by an "undersea convulsion" in the harbor of Santo Domingo; Hicks, 23, was a member of a recreation party aboard a launch that was returning to the Memphis when a tremendous sea swell not only upset his boat, but also sent the giant warship rolling inshore to the rocks, where it quickly went to pieces.

According to a businessman in Haarig, a fight is brewing on the saloon question; the owners of the two corner buildings that are occupied by saloons are at the bottom of the fight; a man named Lail is seeking a license to pen a new saloon in the Meyer building; the owners of two other saloons in Haarig are opposed to the new bar, which would be the fifth in that section.

-- Sharon K. Sanders