Day in history for August 5, 2005

1855 -- 150 years ago

By a census recently taken, the population of Burlington, Iowa, was numbered at 10,130, an increase of over 2,000 in 2 years. The city was 22 years old at the time.

1880 -- 125 years ago

Watermelons were unusually plentiful in Rock Island.

1905 -- 100 years ago

Will Nagel, arrested on Island B of the Mississippi River, about 4 miles above Muscatine, on the charge of having knowledge of the murder of Carl Grady, Rock Island, made the charge that Josephine Collette committed the murder and that the body was buried on Geneva Island.

1930 -- 75 years ago

Babe Ruth led the major leagues in home runs with 40. Hack Wilson, of the Chicago Cubs, was the pacesetter in the National League with 35.

1955 -- 50 years ago

Moline's $357,000 downtown street widening and repaving project started yesterday with crews of Jesse Freeman, Inc., Moline contractor, laying a 36-inch storm drain line on 4th Ave. between 16th and 17th Sts.

1980 -- 25 years ago

There will be archaeologists as well as construction crews working on the first phase of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' flood prevention project in Milan this fall. An Indian camp once stood near the tip of Vandruffs Island.

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