2010 Cape Girardeau Historic Preservation Month Walk

Fred Lynch

Sunday, May 23, 2010

About 35 people took the walking tour May 19, 2010 in the 300- to 500 blocks of Themis, 100-block of North Frederick and 300- to 500 blocks of Broadway streets in Cape Girardeau. The Historic Preservation Commission sponsored the event. {http://www.cityofcapegirardeau.org/files/Planning/Walking_Tour_Handout_with_Cover.pdf Click this link for the walking tour handout.}

The Cape Girardeau Court of Common Pleas was established by the Missouri legislature in 1851. A local tax was enacted in June 1854 for the construction of the building, to be used as a city hall, "calaboose" (jail) and courtroom.
The Civil War memorial fountain statue was erected on the Common Pleas Courthouse lawn in 1911 by the Women's Relief Corps, an auxiliary to a Civil War veterans group. It was dedicated on Memorial Day of that year, 50 years after the start of the Civil War. The memorial depicts a Union infantry soldier standing guard with his musket.
Dr. Frank Nickell describes the Carnegie Library. It was Cape Girardeau's first public library and was opened in 1914. The Carnegie Corporation, which funded numerous libraries across the country, offered up to $25,000 if citizens could raise an additional $5,000. The citizens raised over $11,000 and the surplus money went for additional books and equipment. The original building is visible behind the 1959 addition.
The Harrison House, 313 Themis, is so-called because three generations of that family lived in the house from 1903 until 1986. It's a two-and-a-half story, brick, free classic Queen Anne home. Built in 1897-98, the home was designed by prominent St. Louis architect Jerome B. Legg.

The Judith Ann Crow House, 323 Themis, is thought to have been built sometime around 1864. One of the earlier known owners of this property is Uriah Brock, who was the only known Revolutionary War veteran to live in the city of Cape Girardeau. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 27, 1997.
Across from the Judith Ann Crow House, Dr. Frank Nickell describes the May Greene Garden which sits adjacent to the historic location of the yellow brick Ma Greene House, an antebellum home once inhabited by one of Cape Girardeau's founding families. The house was razed in 1964 for construction of the federal building parking lot.
The Rev. Bob Towner describes Christ Episcopal Church, 101 N. Fountain St., which is the oldest Protestant church still standing in Cape Girardeau. The cornerstone was laid on Sept. 18, 1877. Over the years, the congregation has made several additions and alterations to the English country gothic building.
The Davis House, 401 Themis, is a Victorian Queen Anne structure. Ben and Olivia Davis purchased the land from Louis Houck in 1889 and began building their home. Mr. Davis was a lawyer and then became a judge (1904-1908). The current owners hope to renovate the house.
The Whitelaw House, 423 Themis, is a three-story Victorian house built in 1890 by lawyer Robert Whitelaw and his wife, the former Katie Block. Whitelaw served two terms as Cape Girardeau County's prosecuting attorney, and part of one term as U.S. congressman.

The Emil and Viola Bahn House, 428 Themis, is a Prairie-style house constructed in 1914. The Bahns ran a prosperous hardware and gunsmithing business on Main Street in downtown Cape Girardeau. They lived in the house until 1967. It is now the offices of Remley Law Firm.
The Old Courthouse Site, 433 Themis, is directly across the street from the Bahn house. On that site once stood the first courthouse built in Cape Girardeau. A log structure, it was home to a Justice of the Peace who held court there going back to the 1820s.
The present Trinity Lutheran Church, 100 N. Frederick St., is the second church at the site. The original church was dedicated on Sept. 8, 1878. It was deemed unsafe in 1978 and torn down.
The Coerver/Dr. G.B. Schulz House, 605 Broadway, is a Queen Anne style house built by William Coerver in 1891. He was a druggist for 50 years and served four, two-year terms as mayor of Cape Girardeau, stepping down in 1906. It was later the Schulz Surgical Hospital which closed when Southeast Missouri Hospital opened in 1928. The building is now Broadway Books and Roasting Co.
The Planter's House, now Shivelbine's Music Store, 535 Broadway, is described by Scott Shivelbine, right. It was a tavern with upper rooms for rent and was constructed in 1875. As such, it may be Cape Girardeau's oldest hotel structure. Reportedly, before regular theaters were built, early silent films were shown in the tavern, with a sheet serving as a screen.
The Broadway-Middle Commercial Historic District, 500 block of Broadway.
The Broadway-Middle Commercial Historic District, 500 block of Broadway.