Day in history for April 25, 2001

1876 -- 125 years ago

A switch engine on the Rockford Road ran off the track at the foot of East Eagle Street last evening. An open switch was the cause.

1901 -- 100 years ago

There were 43 members in the senior class of Rock Island High School.

1926 -- 75 years ago

White caps four feet high were whipped up on the surface of the ordinarily calm Mississippi, under the lash of a northwesterly gale humming along from at 30 to 50 miles an hour.

1951 -- 50 years ago

Damage estimated at $12,200 resulted from a fire which gutted a third floor attic of an apartment and store building at 513-515 17th St., Rock Island, directly across the street from the Central Fire Station, yesterday afternoon. The No. 1 fire company and the aerial ladder truck made one of their shortest major fire runs in the department's history to fight the blaze.

1976 -- 25 years ago

The weekend sky over the vacant lot at 23rd Ave. and 53rd St., Moline, is turned into a small-scale Cape Canaveral by area model rocket buffs. Between 30 and 50 people gather to see their hand-crafted rockets blast-off and climb into the sky before falling in a distant corner of the lot. Wes Eller of Moline is generally acknowledged as the instigator of the rocket mania on the lot. Eller built model airplanes as a hobby when he was in the service.

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