25 years ago: July 21, 1983

Cape Girardeau lawyer Stephen N. Limbaugh officially becomes a new judge for the Eastern Division of the U.S. District Court when he is sworn in by the chief judge of the Eastern Division of Missouri.

BELL CITY, Mo. — Five fire departments battled for more than an hour against a blaze here yesterday which erupted from a 13-car derailment of a 65-car Missouri-Pacific freight train; firefighters from Marble Hill, Dexter, Sikeston, Bloomfield and Bell City were called to the scene about 3:15 p.m., shortly after the derailment.

50 years ago: July 21, 1958

George P. Ryan, who had served eight years as principal of the high school at Delta before retiring last May, died unexpectedly Saturday night.

The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau assumes flood proportions as rains continue all along its tributaries; of immediate concern is farm land in the rich, unprotected islands and crops outside the levees; these include the Seabaugh truck farm near Bainbridge, Mo., Devil's Island upstream from Cape Girardeau, and Big Island and Burnham's Island in the Commerce, Mo., area.

75 years ago: July 21, 1933

One hundred new seats, ordered by City Commissioner Louis Wittmore, have been received and are being assembled by Louis Brunke, caretaker of Courthouse Park, for use in the park.

Secretary W.F.D. Batjer of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce receives a telegram from the administrator of the National Recovery Administration ordering him to organize a committee to "direct a campaign of education and organization which is to be part of a national movement to speed the return of prosperity through the expansion of consumer purchasing power in accordance with the principles set forth in the National Recovery Act."

100 years ago: July 21, 1908

Postmaster E.W. Flentge says that beginning Aug. 1, the new clerk to be hired will collect mail from Main Street and the downtown district each afternoon about 2 and again each night about 10.

Dr. J.W. Simpson, formerly of Jackson, died a few days ago in St. Louis; his wife was a daughter of Richard Burns of Jackson; seven children also survive him.

— Sharon K. Sanders