Cape Girardeau's municipal band

Now that the winter solstice is behind us, I begin to think of days getting longer, if only by seconds, and look forward to spring and summer. The Cape Girardeau Municipal Band and its outside concerts come to mind. Part of my interest in the municipal band is personal for me. My maternal grandfather was one of its early members, playing trombone for the band. I never knew my grandfather. He passed away long before I was born. The few photographs that exist of him outside of his wedding picture are with the Cape Municipal Band.

Cape Girardeau's municipal band is one of the oldest, continually operated municipal bands in the country. The Repasz Elks Band of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, lays claim to being the oldest continuous band in the country beginning in 1831. Capt. C.F. Schuchert formed a cornet band of 13 members in the spring of 1900. His son, Dr. Clarence Schuchert, a dentist, took over the band in 1910, renaming it Schuchert's Concert Band.

For me, one of the interesting parts of the band's early history is its involvement in World War I. In a blog posted in the Southeast Missourian, May 31, 2016, Sharon Sanders reported on how much of the band was mustered into the National Guard and then the U.S. Army to serve in World War I. In 1917, Dr. Schuchert made arrangements to have a recruitment officer give a presentation at the Opera House in Cape with hopes many band members would enlist to serve the country's war effort. As bad luck would have it, the recruiter showed up drunk for the presentation and approximately half the band members got up and left in disgust. The men who left eventually returned to the Opera House and someone else explained the requirements. Twenty-five band members enlisted.

A history of the municipal band written by a Southeast Missouri State University student, Karen L. Walker, for her master's degree in music education says the band members went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for their basic training. Almost half of the men went to the 128th Field Artillery band, a few men went to the 140th Infantry, and a couple of men were sent to the 130th Field Artillery. Dr. Schuchert was granted a discharge since he received no assignment. According to the blog, the 128th Field Artillery was the only band to go to the front lines in France. My grandfather was in the 128th. All the men who enlisted survived the war and returned home by 1919.

Dr. Schuchert soon had the band back together, giving outdoor summer concerts at Courthouse Park, now Ivers Square. In 1922 Schuchert and Arthur Harrison got a state law passed which allowed cities in Missouri to tax themselves to support municipal bands.

Schuchert left the band after the 1927 season, when the band performed its first year as the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band. He passed away in 1931, leaving a legacy of creating Cape's municipal band.

For many years Blacks and women were not included in the band. That has changed.

In the late 1950s a new Outdoor Memorial Theater Committee led by Elmore Kassel got a theater built for the band in Capaha Park. In 2021, a major renovation of the band shell in Capaha Park was still underway. If all goes well, the municipal band should be back to outdoor concerts in 2022.

Despite the changes and shake-ups from outside sources, the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band has continued to play on. For more information on Cape's municipal band, visit its Facebook page.