- A third steamer Cape Girardeau was christened 100 years ago (3/26/24)
- 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
William Brunke made the bricks that made Cape Girardeau
Many of the names of the architects who designed the residences and commercial houses that litter historic Cape Girardeau have survived: Edwin Branch Deane, L.B. Blackwood, J.B. Legg, Thomas P. Barnett, E.W. Parlow, A.F. Lindsay, Fred Dormeyer Jr., Hal Lynch and John Boardman, just to name a few.
But few of the names of the laborers who dug the foundations, hung the steel or framed the walls for those buildings have survived. That's why I was surprised and pleased to run across a small item about a man who made the bricks. Not all of them, of course. But enough to claim a well-deserved, "Job well done!" nod in Cape Girardeau's history.
William Brunke came to America aboard a sailing ship with his parents and seven siblings. After a brief stay in New Orleans, the family moved to Cape Girardeau County. Here they put down roots, and William helped put up buildings. Here's a few items that tell William's story.
It's likely the four-generation photograph accompanying this blogt was taken at the Brunke homestead at 33 N. Ellis St., in Cape Girardeau. It was the subject of a feature story on Oct. 28, 1972, part of the Missourian's "Old-House Series" written by Sally Wright Owen.
The article gives more background of the Brunke family:
"In late October of 1867 Andres Brunke, his wife, Johanna, and their eight youngsters left Germany, their homeland, to set out for the New Country.
"The small band of pioneers seeking new frontiers landed in the port of New Orleans after a nine-week ocean voyage on a sailing ship (the Doretta, according to Ancestry.com). The ship, incidentally, was lost on its next trip over.
"But upon disembarking in the nation's southern port, the family learned New Orleans was quarantined. Stranded, the family finally obtained help for transportation costs from an uncle of Pete Bremmerman and continued their journey upstream on the Mississippi steamer Stonewall Jackson. That boat, too, sank on its next trip.
"After arrive here, the family lived with relatives for a time until Andres Brunke built the family residence at 33 N. Ellis.
"Now, 105 years after young William Brunke arrived in the United States with his parents, his daughter, Miss Frieda Brunke, is still living in the family home. The family literally grew with the city.
"Miss Brunke's mother was Emily Wilhelmina Bloss, the first child born to her parents in this country. The Bloss family lived near Tilsit, and was originally from Austria, Miss Brunke thinks. William Brunke died in 1951 (actually, 1950) at the age of 89; his wife died several years earlier...
"William Brunke operated a brickyard at the corner of Morgan Oak and Elm, and his daughter says she can recall 'many a time carrying a hot breakfast down to the yard for him.'
"Bricks used in building the home of Maj. James F. Brooks, a pioneer Cape County Resident, came from the Brunke brickyard, she adds. The Brooks home was located at the southeast corner of Broadway and Louisiana. When that home was torn down in 1939, the bricks were saved and used in constructing the home of his daughter, the late Mrs. C.E. Stiver, at 406 N. Louisiana..."
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