Out of the past 9/1/07

25 years ago: Sept. 1, 1982

Effective today, purchases by Cape Girardeau's city government of everything "from cars to toilet paper" are being administered by the city manager's office under a program designed to realign the city's purchasing policies; before today, most departments and offices in the city government were allowed to make their own purchases.

An action group known as the "Open Sundays Committee" is hoping to place the question of Sunday sales in Cape Girardeau County on the November ballot.

50 years ago: Sept. 1, 1957

The Evening Light Mission, which has, for the past 23 months, been at 421A Broadway, has purchased the Mill Pentecostal Church at 234 Mill Street in Cape Girardeau; the name of the church has been changed to the Evening Light Church.

KELSO, Mo. -- A reception is held for Sister Patriciann, formerly Mildred Ressel, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ressel of Kelso, at St. Augustine's parish hall; she recently completed a year's course in nurse-midwifery in Santa Fe, N.M.; she will open a maternity clinic in Ghana, West Africa.

75 years ago: Sept. 1, 1932

Numerous construction projects along the Mississippi River in the Cape Girardeau vicinity are providing employment for many men; officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office here say about 200 Cape Girardeau men are now working on various jobs along the river.

Work has begun on the development of a five-acre tract of land just west of Cape Girardeau on U.S. 61 for the Airline Oil Co.; the project includes the construction of a large superservice unit, six large cabins for tourists, a wholesale oil base with four 10,000-gallon storage tanks, a warehouse and landscaping of the entire tract.

100 years ago: Sept. 1, 1907

The Rev. E.T. Adams, having returned from a monthlong vacation, resumes the pulpit at the Methodist church; the congregation continues to hold services in the Common Pleas Courthouse while the church edifice is being constructed.

E. Bueltmann, graduate of Springfield, Ill., theological seminary, is ordained and installed as the pastor of the Lutheran church at Pocahontas; the Rev. R. Winkler of New Wells is the officiating minister.

-- Sharon K. Sanders