25 years ago: Aug. 15, 1985

The appraised values on 31 flood-prone properties in Cape Girardeau's west end area and three commercial properties along the Mississippi River are reduced, some substantially, by the Cape Girardeau County Board of Equalization; the total appraised value of the 31 commercial properties in the Cape LaCroix Creek basin area is reduced by $1,735,000.

The new riverboat New Orleans doesn't stop in Cape Girardeau as scheduled; no notice of the change or explanation is offered by the boat line.

50 years ago: Aug. 15, 1960

Bishop Homer A. Tomlinson of New York City, general overseer of the Church of God and a candidate for president of the United States, is scheduled to preside at the 55th annual General Assembly of the Church of God held here; sessions will be held at the local Church of God, 1000 Bend Road, beginning tomorrow and continuing daily until Sunday.

Preliminary to the establishment of a parking lot, razing of the old Union Mill building on Water Street, one of a number to be torn down, is underway; the mill structure is 103 years old.

75 years ago: Aug. 15, 1935

If the Works Progress Administration approves Cape Girardeau's application for funds to construct South Main Street from William Street to College Street, $5,600 will be spent in wages to laborers.

Lawrence Weimer, 43, a farmer living on Country Club Drive, fractures his left leg when he falls through a bridge over Little Flora Creek; Weimer and his brother, Joe, had gone fishing; they left their car near the bridge and started to walk across, but it failed to hold their weight and they fell 10 feet.

100 years ago: Aug. 15, 1910

Carl Weber, capitalist and politician of Bloomfield, Mo., arrives in Cape Girardeau with a party of four others, on the way to Denver and Colorado Springs; also in the party, besides Weber, are Wiley Walker, Bert Smith, Dr. D.A. Sloan and Henry Meisner, chauffeur.

The contest among the eight carrier boys of The Daily Republican for new subscribers comes to an end; Walter Hager makes the largest gains of permanent subscribers and therefore wins a gold watch.

Featured in "Men of Affairs" is H.C. Wasem.

-- Sharon K. Sanders