Out of the past 6/12/08

25 years ago: June 12, 1983

The Rev. Earl G. Statler, who retired from the Benton-Oran Charge at the recent conference of the Cape Girardeau-Farmington District of the United Methodist Church, has joined the staff of Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau; he will serve as a part-time minister.

Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball coach Angela Beck has resigned her post at the school to accept a similar position at Bradley University, a Division I program.

50 years ago: June 12, 1958

A number of workers are attempting to clean up the debris at the Cape County Regional Library building in the west part of Jackson, which was damaged by the flood Tuesday night; an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 books were damaged in the storm; these have been piled outside the building, along with many pieces of furniture, metal files, boxes of records and other items which must be cleaned before it is determined what can be salvaged.

Construction of an $85,000 building to house a supermarket of National Foods Stores is started on the old Saint Francis Hospital property at the intersection of Sprigg and William streets.

75 years ago: June 12, 1933

Julian N. Friant of Cape Girardeau has been named special assistant to Secretary of Agriculture H.A. Wallace in Washington, D.C., handling applications for jobs under the Farm Adjustment Act.

Contract for the construction of an annex to the Ely Walker Dry Goods Co. factory at Illmo has been let to John J. Miller of that place; the one-story annex will be 200 feet long and 125 feet wide.

100 years ago: June 12, 1908

A representative crowd of stockholders in the Cape Girardeau smelting plant has voted to sell the operation; a Mr. Elvins of the lead mining district in St. Francois County is acting for himself and a group of Boston financiers interested in the plant.

A building in Haarig, recently damaged by fire, is being enlarged and made into a modern structure; it houses the Good Hope Drug Store, which has also been remodeled; in addition to the drugstore, manager Jim Kinder has put in a fine soda water fountain, serving delicious I. Ben Miller ice cream.

-- Sharon K. Sanders