CAPE GIRARDEAU PARKS RECALL INDIAN TRIBE NAMES

Cape Girardeau is known as the City of Roses. The Indians painted their faces in a deep red rose color. They used juices of berries, clay, and other things in making the color. The red color depicted bravery to them, as did the scalps they had tied to their belts.

Two tribes of Indians the Shawnees and the Delawares lived in the Cape Girardeau area from 1792 until the early years of the 19th century. They accompanied Louis Lorimier to the site when he became commandant of the Cape Girardeau district in 1793. Other tribes passed through the area at various times, but they did not remain during the time Lorimier was commandant.

The Shawnees had been friendly with Lorimier for many years when he conducted trade with them in the East before migrating west, and finally crossing into Spanish territory, and taking an oath of allegiance to the king of Spain in 1789.

Lorimier was acquainted with the habits and customs of the two tribes, especially the Shawnees, since he was married to a woman of that tribe who was half Shawnee and half French.

After Lorimier persuaded the Shawnees and Delawares to cross the Mississippi River and live in Spanish territory, he was made commandant of the newly created Cape Girardeau district, and sections of land were consigned to the two tribes and their descendants forever. The Shawnees lived in what is now Old Appleton and Shawneetown until 1825, and the Delawares lived near Kennett and Malden until 1829. Both tribes sold their land grants back to the government, and relocated to the Kansas Territory at that time.

White settlers kept moving across the Mississippi after the U.S. purchased upper Louisiana from the French in 1803, and the transaction was made known to the settlers in 1804. The delay in notification was the result of a lack of communication.

Until then, interested white families wanting to come into what was to become Missouri kept crossing the Mississippi and persuading Indians to sell their land. Some of the Indians wanted to migrate westward and would sell their land cheaply.

In an effort to protect the Indians, lieutenant governors were instructed by Baron de Carondelet, who governed all of Louisiana, that Indians who sold land were to be punished.

After the Indians moved from Southeast Missouri, all of their land was eventually made available for purchase, and many families bought large tracks of it, since the price of land at the time was very cheap. By the end of the 19th century, Southeast Missouri was well populated.

Lorimier deeded the first land "for a park and the enjoyment of the citizen forever" when he donated four acres, $200 and labor to erect a courthouse and other things, when the city was laid out in 1806. This park today is Courthouse Park. It was to remain as the deeded gift specified or to be returned to the Lorimier estate. When a new federal building was being proposed, the U.S. government tried to obtain the site, but was prevented from doing so because of the Lorimier will.

Indian Park on Lorimier Street was here when Lorimier resided in the "Red House" one block east of the park. A spring flowed across the land then. Indians camped when they came to visit Lorimier on business. Today, it is a city park, with a playground for children and a basketball court. Lorimier's "Red House" was situated near Old St. Vincent's Church on Spanish Street.

In 1955, the city of Cape Girardeau realized more park land would have to be obtained for recreation for the growing population. The information was made public, and civic-minded individuals who wanted to do something worthwhile for the area began to give land for parks.

After several tracks of land were donated to the city in this century, names for the parks were needed. The late Bill Gerhardt, a native of Old Appleton, well versed in Indian lore, and in the construction business in Cape Girardeau, suggested the Shawnees and Delawares be remembered and their names used for parks. This suggestion was accepted.

Shawnee Park on the southside of Cape Girardeau was deeded to the city Dec. 29, 1972. The 75-acre track was a gift from the Lefarth family: Mary, Joseph, and Elizabeth. Recently 24.39 acres adjoining the park were added, a gift from the A.A. Herrmann family. The park is divided by a creek into three sections. Two sections are used by area soccer teams, composed of students from kindergarten through high school, and some college teams. Del Elfrink is in charge of the soccer teams. Berry Zerbe is president of the soccer league association, and Alice Pemm is past president. Over 1,000 school children are engaged in the athletic events. The third section of the park is a picnic area for the public.

Cherokee Park, named for the Cherokee Indians who crossed the county of Cape Girardeau in 1838 on the Trail of Tears, was a gift of 54 acres from the Albert Koerber family on May 22, 1969. It is at Perryville Road and Cape Rock Drive.

Capaha Park came to the city from the Southeast Missouri District Fair Association on Nov. 16, 1915. It was once used by the District Fair until the fair board bought Arena Park from the Nothdurfts, with usable parkland now of about 90 acres.

Delaware Park is 18.2 acres in size, located off of Sprigg Street Road. It was a gift from the Kelso-Renfrow family, which has given 250 acres in all for city and Southeast Missouri State University park land.

In 1937, 20 acres of land was leased by the late Judge I.R. Kelso and his wife as Springdale Bird Sanctuary to the Audubon Society of Missouri. The sanctuary today includes 158 acres.

In 1944, seven acres were added to the original 20, and that land was donated to the Audubon Society of Missouri, which still owns the land today. Southeast Missouri State University manages the land as part of wildlife sanctuary.

The family then gave 35 acres in 1970 to the university, and that included the bird sanctuary from the Late Gen. Louis Huber Renfrow and his wife Ruth Kelso Renfrow. Gen. Renfrow was stationed in Washington, D.C., and was the assistant to the first three secretaries of the Defense Department created in 1948: Janus Forestall, Louis Johnson, and Gen. George Marshall. Then in 1976, a 96-acre track was donated to the university that included the bird sanctuary by Mrs. Renfrow and her two sons and their wives: Richard and his wife, Edith Josephine, and the late Robert, and his wife Nancy Jane Renfrow.

In September, the Missouri Conservation Department purchased nine acres from the Otis Phillips family to link the bird sanctuary with the other sections of the park.

The Renfrow family has also given the city a tract of about seven acres on what will be the new Sprigg St. extension. This Casquin tract was received by the city Sept. 2, 1986. It is where the Casquin Indians lived who migrated from Kaskaskia into Spanish territory. On this undisturbed land, grasses, wild flowers, shrubs, and trees grow. This year, the site has been declared a protected landmark by the United States government.

At this time, the city of Cape Girardeau has 24 parks, and is known not only as the City of Roses, but also as a city of beautiful parks.