25 years ago: March 19, 1986

The owners of several Cape Girardeau apartments have filed lawsuits in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court challenging the 32 percent commercial assessment ratio used by the county assessor's office to determine county and city property taxes on the apartments for 1985.

The Cape Girardeau City Council has given preliminary approval to the placement of ornamental stop signs at the intersection of Main and Themis streets in an effort to protect a soon-to-be installed street clock that will be located in the middle of that intersection.

50 years ago: March 19, 1961

St. Andrew Lutheran Church inaugurates a two-service-per-Sunday plan, at 7:30 and 10 a.m., with Bible Classes at the usual time of 8:45 a.m.; with an average attendance of over 300 in February, it was felt advisable to add the additional service to alleviate crowding.

Dr. Ivan H. Nothdurft, a native of Cape Girardeau, preaches at the morning services at Grace Methodist Church; Nothdurft has spent the past 16 years in Latin America, where he has served as an educator and administrator.

75 years ago: March 19, 1936

Tuesday will be the first election in Cape Girardeau since the repeal of Prohibition; still, a city ordinance prohibits the sale of intoxicating liquors or beer of more than 3.2 percent alcoholic content on that day.

Pupils of Franklin School assembled recently on the campus, when firefighters of the Cape Girardeau department demonstrated some difficult maneuvers as they attached a flag to the top of the high pole on the school grounds.

100 years ago: March 19, 1911

A runaway horse, driven by Marcelle Temple and attached to a buggy, creates a ripple of excitement on busy Broadway; the animal takes fright at a dangling, broken strap and races down Broadway from near the Trust Co. building to Ellis Street; it collides with a buggy driven by Regina Friant, but no damage is done, nor is anyone injured.

The steamer Cape Girardeau made its first trip of the spring last evening, carrying a good load of freight; while here, the boat took on 200 head of livestock and several shipments of dead freight.

-- Sharon K. Sanders