Look-Stein-Smude house razed in 1948

When I first ran across this ghostly image on microfilm from 1948, I thought it was my own little house in downtown Cape Girardeau. But a more careful examination of the image showed me my error.

This style of house -- German vernacular -- was very common in Cape Girardeau at one time. You will still find examples scattered in the downtown and Haarig districts, if you look hard enough.

The house in the picture was at 37 S. Sprigg St. It made the newspaper by virtue of its demise. In February 1948, this little German brick was being demolished to make way for a gasoline service station. (You thought I was going to say "parking lot," didn't you?)

The house, believed to be 103 years old at the time it was razed, was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Oscar C. Smude. It had been built by Mrs. Smude's grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Look. Grandpa Look was said to have built the house when he was 18 years old.

Henry Look was born April 9, 1830, in Hannover, Germany. When he came to the United States isn't know, but he was a resident of Cape Girardeau 31 years at the time of his death on Feb. 13, 1886. He served with Company G, 1st Missouri Engineers, during the Civil War.

He married Johanna Stoffregen in Cape Girardeau on June 11, 1851. She, too, was a native of Germany, being born in Hannover in December 1831. Her obituary in 1916 reveals that she and Henry "were sweethearts of youth in Germany, but because neither had a dowry their marriage was impossible. To get around the custom that was nearly a law, they decided to set sail for the new country that offered so much. Shortly after they came here, they were married. Shortly thereafter her parents and brother came over."

Henry and Johanna had four children, but only their daughter Josephine lived to maturity. Josephine married Christian Stein Jr. in 1883. In 1916, at the time of Johanna Look's death, she made her home with her daughter and son-in-law at the house pictured above. Three months after her death, Christian also died.

Mrs. Myrtle Smude, one of the owners of the little house when it was razed in 1948, was the daughter of Christian and Josephine Look Stein Jr., and the granddaughter of those first German immigrants, Henry and Johanna Stoffregen Look.