Out of the past 8/1/08

25 years ago: Aug. 1, 1983

Cape Girardeau County Court agrees to vacate the Benton Hill Road near the former Mount Tabor Park; the park, just off Bloomfield Road west of Cape Girardeau, reverted to private ownership earlier this year after the Cape Special Road District said it no longer wanted to maintain the park.

The Jackson Board of Aldermen unanimously rejects an expansion proposal by TCI Cablevision, as well as a resulting $3 increase.

50 years ago: Aug. 1, 1958

Twelve people at the Harlon Parnell home on Windy Hill Road have been stricken with what is thought to be food poisoning; three are considered to be in serious condition; some are members of the Parnell family, while others are guests.

The Municipal Airport Board announces that sealed bids for the start of work in a $590,000 construction program at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport will be received Aug. 18; work under the bids will all be for ground improvements; a separate contract is planned for a new administration building.

75 years ago: Aug. 1, 1933

Chief engineer T.H. Cutler of the State Highway Department, after a hearing at Jefferson City, says he will recommend the building of a parallel roadway to U.S. 61 on the sector west of Cape Girardeau; it is proposed to build a roadway paralleling the present route from the West Broadway terminus to Highway 74, almost 4 miles.

The work of rehabilitating old McKendree Chapel has been completed; the old house of worship has been completely overhauled and kept as near its original condition as possible; a new foundation, made of the original stones, will keep the building standing rigid for another century.

100 years ago: Aug. 1, 1908

Because no records of burials have been kept in Cape Girardeau since 1902, C.A. Dorsey of Carbondale, Ill., has been unable to locate the grave where his brother is buried in the new city cemetery west of the city; W.P. Dorsey died here in 1903.

Viviene and Clara Vanetten entertain a few of their young friends in the evening at their Cape Girardeau home in honor of Camille Leedy, who is visiting them from Cameron, Mo.

— Sharon K. Sanders