Day in history for April 19, 2002

1852 -- 150 years ago

The Iowa Grand Division of Sons of Temperance met in Davenport today and the state temperance convention will be held there tomorrow. If the plan for prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor could be kept out of politics, we would be disposed to give the prohibition experiment a fair trial.

1877 -- 125 years ago

The 16th Street sewer near the river in Rock Island caved in this forenoon when a dray was passing over it.

1902 -- 100 years ago

Many lives were lost when the steamer City of Pittsburgh burned today.

1927 -- 75 years ago

Chester C. Thompson was elected mayor of Rock Island, defeating William R. Carse, 5,525 to 5,060. Thompson is the first Democrat to be elected to the office in 30 years.

1952 -- 50 years ago

Forty-eight toes among two 7-month-old kittens is quite a number. Each of the kittens, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Sigsworth, 605 20th Ave., Rock Island, has seven claws on each front foot and five on each back foot.

1977 -- 25 years ago

A county-by-county study of Illinois farm land shows ownership of the most fertile areas is increasingly concentrated among established, well-to-do farmers, making it nearly impossible for young people to enter the field. ``We are getting young farmers back,'' noted Dr. Franklin J. Reiss, University of Illinois agricultural economist. ``But they're coming back as tenants.''

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