- Cape Girardeau christens its namesake (3/19/24)
- The humanist philosophy of Lester Mondale (3/12/24)1
- Cape Osteopathic Hospital opens its doors (3/5/24)
- 8 killed and a million dollars damage done in 1924 tornado (2/27/24)1
- Jackson's militant priest, county recorder at odds over marriage licenses (2/20/24)
- Streaking fad comes to Cape (2/13/24)2
- Recalling the start of MEW (2/6/24)
A 1918 fire consumed second Elmwood Manor
The remains of a gateway at Elmwood manor served as a backdrop for photographs during a recent tour of the estate. (Sharon Sanders)
(This blog was altered to correct information regarding the above photograph.)
In April my sister and I were privileged to be two of the 35 persons who toured Elmwood -- the historic home of Louis and Mary Hunter Giboney Houck -- off Bloomfield Road. The tour was made possible through the efforts of the good folks at Continuing Education at Southeast Missouri State University. Coordinating the tour was Christy Mershon, assisted by historian Frank Nickell and Southeast assistant registrar Julie Grueneberg. Acting as tour guide at Elmwood was Bob Herbst.
As our bus squeezed through the front gates of the estate, it was pointed out that from that spot to the manor house was exactly one mile. That mile deposited us near the site of the second home of Andrew Giboney built on the Spanish land grant. It was destroyed by fire in 1918. After reading the story below, I was left to wonder how the city firemen managed to squeeze the fire truck through the narrow portals at the Bloomfield Road entrance.
Having worked as a newspaper librarian all of my adult life, I cringe at the thought of all those historic documents going up in flames. And I'm sure the blaze fed Louis Houck's well-known fear of fire. It was demonstrated when he built Briarwood, a nearby frame home, for his daughter, Irma Houck Juden, in the early 1900s. Handouts given to us when we toured that home referred to the use of crushed seashells as wall coverings in the belief that this would fireproof the home.
Like the Elmwood that burned in 1918, the current home of the Houck descendants holds many unexplored documents, some of going back to the days when the Giboney family owned slaves.
All of us who prize the history of Cape Girardeau and this area realize the great treasure that is Elmwood. Every effort should be made to preserve it and its contents. As demonstrated by the accidental 1918 fire that consumed the second Elmwood and the deliberate demoliton of other local landmarks (Ellis-Wathen-Ranney House, St. Charles Hotel, St. Vincent's College gymnasium and handball court, and Farmers & Merchants Bank, just to name a few), our history is easily destroyed, sometimes through flames, but most often through indifference.
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