25 years ago: Nov. 4, 1980

The days of "feeding the meters" in Jackson are gone -- at least for three months; beginning today, parking in the central business district is free; following in the footsteps of the Cape Girardeau City Council, which eliminated all parking meters in the city last month, the Jackson Board of Aldermen last night unanimously agreed to tape up the meters for a three-month trial period.

WASHINGTON -- Ronald Wilson Reagan wins the White House on the crest of a conservative tide that sweeps Republicans to control of the Senate for the first time in 26 years.

50 years ago: Nov. 4, 1955

K.P. Oldfield of Cape Girardeau was sworn in yesterday by Edwin J. Sander, county clerk, as probate judge of Cape Girardeau County; the probate office will remain of the first floor of the county courthouse in Jackson, and Oldfield says he will retain Helen Miller as his court clerk.

Tentative dates on which plans for the Cape Girardeau floodwall and levee will be ready for contractors' study have been announced.

75 years ago: Nov. 4, 1930

The work of clearing the right of way for the $330,000 set-back levee to be constructed by the federal government along the Little River Diversion Channel south of Cape Girardeau between Nash and Allenville will begin within a few days; an effort will be made to get most of the 6 1/2-mile strip of ground to be used for the levee site cleared before winter weather sets in.

Contractor E.L. Markham has finished paving West Main Street in Jackson; this completes the "loop" connecting highways 25 and 61 in the city; after the completion of the Main Street bridge over Hubble Creek, the speedway through the town will be open.

100 years ago: Nov. 4, 1905

Plans are underway for the entertainment of a party of Illinois congressmen, who are expected to arrive in Cape Girardeau Tuesday or Wednesday; the party is making the trip from Chicago to New Orleans in a launch and making speeches at all the points en route for the purpose of arousing enthusiasm for a deep waterway canal through Illinois and the making of a deep channel in the Mississippi.

L.E. Moeder is in Fruitland to take Monroe Morton's place at the depot for awhile; Morton is on the sick list.

-- Sharon K. Sanders