History center adds impressive collection

Christmas came early at the Cape Girardeau County History Center.

Earlier this month, the local museum unveiled a new impressive exhibit: “The Founders Collection: The Legacy of the Lorimier, Rodney, Whitelaw, Carmack & Jueneman Families in Cape Girardeau County.”

Louis Lorimier was the founder of Cape Girardeau.

The new collection includes documents, photos and other artifacts from the county’s founding families. These items had been held in a private collection in Texas. Grace Jueneman, whose late husband, Donald, was a direct descendant of Lorimier, possessed the items and donated them to the museum.

“The family was very eclectic in what they saved,” volunteer Stan Baughn said. “They saved it all, and they documented it — that’s unusual!”

According to a story by Marybeth Niederkorn, the photograph collection documents buildings both existing and extinct, documentation of the county’s early history, and studio portraits, as well.

Original documents, including land grants, diaries, family histories and other genealogical records, are also included in the collection.

This is an incredible collection of documents that explain the beginnings of Cape Girardeau and the county. We encourage everyone to take some time to visit the History Center to learn more about our region’s origins and the people who built it from nothing.

We’d like to thank all the workers and volunteers who spent hours documenting, preserving and displaying these materials; and a special thanks to Grace Jueneman for donating these family collections for the public to learn from and enjoy.