25 years ago: March 25, 1987

A committee has recommended that the NCAA Division II men's basketball championship be held another two years at Springfield, Mass.; Show Me Center officials had hoped to lure the tournament to Cape Girardeau.

The proposed "friendly annexation" by the city of Jackson of 22 acres on the west side of the U.S. 61/Interstate 55 junction conflicts with Cape Girardeau's comprehensive development plan; businessman and developer Jim Drury has asked for the annexation by the city of Jackson.

50 years ago: March 25, 1962

Zeno M. "Sam" Schaefer, 45, died at a Cape Girardeau hospital yesterday afternoon from injuries sustained from falling out of a tree he was helping to trim at a neighbor's home in Scott City; it was reported that a heart attack was the chief cause of his death; Schaefer is survived by his wife, Barbara Glueck Schaefer; his parents; five sons; and 10 daughters.

The congregation of St. James AME Church climaxes its 99th anniversary observance with a program in the afternoon; the speaker is Dr. B.J. Nolen, editor of the Christian Recorder at Nashville, Tenn.

75 years ago: March 25, 1937

The city plans to move ahead at once to purchase land for the new fairgrounds and park west of Cape Girardeau, despite efforts by Maj. Giboney Houck to halt the deal; a purchase contract, drawn with Mrs. Iska Carmack for a major tract of the ground, is ready to be closed.

A dance pavilion owned by Joe E. Moore on West Broadway is being taken down; the material from the building is being placed on the Krueger ground, at the east side of U.S. 61 just south of Broadway, but Moore hasn't decided if he will rebuild there.

100 years ago: March 25, 1912

CAIRO, Ill. -- With the water flowing over the new government levee at Point Pleasant, Mo., in New Madrid County, 100 miles south, it is feared the whole county may be overflowed within a day or two; the Mississippi River in many places below Cairo stretches from the hills of Missouri to the hills of Kentucky.

Henry Kelpe, a farmer and dairyman living out on North Sprigg Street Road, has added about 110 acres to his fine farm and now has more than 300 acres; he bought the land east of his place from K.T. Heise.

-- Sharon K. Sanders