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- 8 killed and a million dollars damage done in 1924 tornado (2/27/24)1
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What's in a name? The naming of two Cape Girardeau parks
The A.C. Brase Arena Building was still under construction when this aerial was taken in 1939. The park was officially named in January 1948. (G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)
Voters of Cape Girardeau approved a $55,000 bond issue Jan. 5, 1937, for the purchase of land that was eventually developed into Arena Park. The first acreage was purchased the following month, and in April 1937 Works Progress Administration employees began shaping the land into a park and fairgrounds.
While the park dates back to 1937, it wasn't officially named for another decade. From 1937 until February 1948, it was simply the "new city park on Highway 61."
After World War II, Cape Girardeau's leading men and women got serious about the development of the town, and eventually a group was formed named the City Plan Commission. It offered up numerous ideas on how to improve the river city. And one of those ideas was to end the confusion of a park with no name, which hosted the SEMO District Fair yearly, and Fairground Park on Broadway, "which for years housed the Fair, but no longer serves such a purpose."
In the fall of 1947 the commission brought up the idea of new names for both parks and asked the public for suggestions. Eventually, new titles were chosen from those offerings: Arena Park for the "new city park on Highway 61" and Capaha Park for the former Broadway fairgrounds.
Published Nov. 14, 1947, in the Southeast Missourian:
NAMES SOUGHT FOR CITY PARKS
A movement which might finally open up a way to end park name confusion was started by the City Plan Commission Thursday afternoon when it offered to the public an opportunity to submit suitable names for Fairground Park and the unnamed new city park on Highway 61.
For 10 years the Highway 61 park, where the District Fair is held each year, has remained without a name. Fairground Park on Broadway, which for years housed the Fair, but no longer serves such a purpose, has often been confused with the other.
As a result, the plan commission asked that Cape Girardeau residents suggest names for each of the two parks. Such suggestions should be sent to: City Plan Commission, care of the City Clerk, Common Pleas Courthouse.
No prizes will be offered, but the movement gives opportunity for someone who can select names meeting commission approval to do a community service. The commission asked, however, that family names as titles for the parks be omitted.
The Southeast Missourian's editorial board found the commission's suggestion an excellent one.
Editorial published Nov. 15, 1947, in the Southeast Missourian:
FINDING NAMES FOR OUR PARKS
There are many things that Cape Girardeau needs badly, and for the sake of clarity and understanding, one is to find and apply names to the city parks. The Missourian has called attention to the need for a long time, so this newspaper hastily endorses the movement inaugurated by the City Plan Commission to designate officially by name the two larger parks we have.
For 10 years, or since the city acquired the land on Highway 61 as a park, and h ad it improved and the Arena Building erected, we have called it about every thing under the sun -- new city park, the unnamed park on Highway 61, Arena Park, Fair Park, and some of those who don't like it because they thought it shouldn't have been purchased, call it "that place."
The park at the (West End) Boulevard and Broadway, purchased by the city back in 1915 for $40,000, has long been known as Fairground Park, chiefly because the old Cape Fair had its buildings there and the exposition was held within its confines.
The question is whether it should be called something else since the Fair is no longer held there, or whether it would be too confusing to change the name because of its long use. By way of example St. Louis still has its Fairground Park, even though a fair is no longer held on the property, now a recreation center.
The plan commission, in asking for suggestions, sought to rule out the use of family names, but there is a question whether this should be done. For example, to honor the name of the city's founder we might call the new park Lorimier Park, or in honor of the Frenchman who first landed where Cape Girardeau is now located we could call it Girardot Park, or after an early day business leader it could be Sturdivant Park or in memory of a distinguished citizen, author and railroad builder, we could call it Louis Houck Park.
This business of finding names for the parks opens up a wide vista. It is to be hoped citizens generally cooperate so that we can get this matter settled for the sake of clarity, if for nothing else.
Fairground Park on Broadway became Capaha Park in January 1948. This photo was taken in 1939. (G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)
The story and editorial prompted a quick reaction. Name offerings soon came flooding in, beginning with several from H.O. Grauel, a member of the English faculty at State College, who prefaced his note to commissioners with these words: "May I congratulate you on the recent decision you made concerning the naming of the two parks in Cape Girardeau, and may I presume to admonish you not to make a 10-year issue out of the matter. With over 600,000 words in the Webster's New International Unabridged Dictionary, the community should be able to select names which would offend no one."
Grauel's suggestion for the 10-year-old city park was "Field Park," in honor of Eugene Field, "one of the best known Missouri poets in the children's literature area." He also said Truman Park, Kings Highway Park, Mark Twain Park, Arena Park and Armory Park would be acceptable. For Fairground Park, his choices were Civic Center, Broadway Park, Boulevard Park and People's Park.
Mrs. Nelse Williams, wife of the caretaker of the "new city park," whose family resided in the Arena Building, offered Arena Park, Fairground Park and Rodney Vista Fairground Park. For Fairground Park she felt "City Park" was the solution.
Over the next few weeks more names were suggested for the Highway 61 park: Spring Valley Park, The Cape City Park, Sunset Park, Rose Valley Park, Semo Park, Rest Land Park, Sunny Side Park, Peace Land Park, Activity Park and La Croix Park;
And for Fairground Park: City Grove Park, The Broadway Park, Lagoon Park, Community Park, Central Park, Maple Grove Park, Capaha Park (honoring both the Native American tribe and the baseball team), Sturdivant Park (in recognition of the man who formerly owned the land on which the park was located), Perry Grove, Cape City Park, Cape Park, City Park and Marquette Park.
A name that was suggested by Mrs. A.T. Hammonds of Cape Girardeau resonated with me: "In memory of a great police officer, the late Jeff Hutson, it was suggested yesterday by Mrs. A.T. Hammonds, 357 N. Park Ave., that Fairground Park be called Hutson Park. She further suggested that the marker on South Main Street, erected in his memory, then be moved to the park, where it could be looked after and flowers planted about it. Chief Hutson gave his life in the performance of his duty as a loyal public official, it was pointed out..."
Finally, the commission had made its decision.
Published Jan. 9, 1948, in the Southeast Missourian:
PARK NAMES ARE PICKED
DESIGNATION OF ARENA, CAPAHA VOTED; FINAL WORD UP TO COUNCIL
Cape Girardeau's two parks, one with an ambiguous name and the other with no official title, were on their way to an official christening today following action by the City Plan Commission Thursday afternoon which picked from citizen-suggested designations two choices for recommendation to the City Council.
The selections were --
Capaha Park for the presently named Fairground Park on Broadway.
Arena Park for the unnamed new city park on Highway 61.
The plan commission has only the power to make recommendations to the council and does not have the authority to act outright. Hence the choices will be passed along to the council for official approval or disapproval.
Suggestions sent in
The commission had asked at its last meeting that citizens send it their suggestions. A large number responded, and it was from these choices that the two finally selected were chosen.
Names were listed and each was given careful consideration before the matter came to a vote. In choosing Capaha Park as the recommendation for Fairground Park, the motion for adoption was made by C.W. Suedekum and the second by V.J. Clemens.
The suggestion for the name Capaha Park came not from Cape Girardeau, but from Burfordville. Alvin W. Maevers, a State College graduate and regularly an employee at the District Fair, offered the name, observing, "This would serve to perpetuate the traditions associated with the Indian tribes which once inhabited this place."
An Indian tribe
The Capahas, it is related in history, were a strong tribe which ruled this section of the country, holding others in restraint. Their chief village was a few miles southwest of what is now Cape Girardeau.
The suggest of the name Arena Park came from approximately one-third of all those offering selections for the plan commission. The new city park has often borne that unofficial title as a means of distinguishing it -- present site of the District Fair -- from the older Fairground Park on Broadway. For those unfamiliar with the situation, the fact that one park is named Fairground Park, but that a fair is held at another site often proves confusing...
The new names became official on Feb. 26, 1948, with the passage of an ordinance by the City Council.
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