25 years ago: April 18, 1987

THEBES, Ill. -- Eighty-two years ago today, the Thebes railroad bridge was officially opened to traffic, when a steam-powered passenger train made the trip from the Illinois shore to the Missouri side of the river.

Cape Girardeau native Dr. Bill Atchley, president of the National Sight Center for Communication and Electronic Foundation, has been named president of the University of Pacific at Stockton, Calif.

50 years ago: April 18, 1962

Dr. William L. Allison, associate professor of education, has been named the new assistant superintendent of Cape Girardeau public schools; he will succeed Charles House, when House becomes superintendent of schools July 1, replacing the retiring L.J. Schultz.

Republican candidates fill two more places on that party's slate by filing for county offices; the new candidates are L.J. Schultz for county judge of the second district and Mrs. W.E. Davis, deputy common pleas clerk, for common pleas clerk.

75 years ago: April 18, 1937

The Rev. Ulpiano Arana, a Spanish Vincentian priest, speaks at all Masses at St. Vincent's Catholic Church; through constant correspondence with his relatives, Arana is thoroughly familiar with conditions in the war-torn country; he is a teacher at St. Mary's Seminary in Perryville, Mo.

Succeeding the Rev. C.G. Bohannan, resigned, the Rev. B.L. Wilson assumes the duties of the pastorate of the Church of the Nazarene; he and his wife came here from Chariton, Iowa.

100 years ago: April 18, 1912

Following the exchange of telegrams between this city and Jonesboro, Ark., yesterday, the Cape Girardeau flood relief committee sent a check for $50 to Jonesboro to be used in helping to care for the 3,000 refugees who have been brought to that place.

After spending two weeks on the bluffs of Missouri, just north of Cape Girardeau, William Collier returns to his Illinois farm on the ferryboat Gladys; he had five teams to haul his belongings and family, which included the family of his son-in-law; floodwaters destroyed 100 acres of fine wheat and 12 acres of alfalfa for him.

-- Sharon K. Sanders