CAPE'S HISTORIC WATER STREET PLAYED ROLE IN CITY DEVELOPMENT

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Every small town and big city has at least one street that has special significance to the community. In Cape Girardeau, Water Street has that distinction.

The old timers referred to the street as Levee Street or Aquamsi, a reference to the French word for watery, as indeed the street was often when the Mississippi rose and flooded the street.

It was along the west bank of the river in the early spring of 1793 that Don Louis Lorimier and his band of Indians and Frenchmen landed. Lorimier had been sent to the area to establish a lookout post for the Spanish regime.

There was great rivalry between Spain, France, and England over the control of the Mississippi River. It continued until the United States purchased the Louisiana territory in 1803.

Lorimier, who had been appointed by the Spanish Crown as commandant of the Cape Girardeau District, was then relieved of his position. The United States made him a city official in 1804, a position he held until his death in 1812.

After Cape Girardeau was opened for settlement, the military port began to grow. The town was named for a French ensign, Girardot, from Fort Kaskaskia, who traded in furs with the Indians during the early years of the 1700s. The houses and stores that were built faced the river or were on the two dirt streets back from the water, where flood waters seldom caused damage.

Today when residents of the city and county visit the street and search for reminders of the original settlement, all that remains of that period is the Port Cape Girardeau restaurant building. That structure was erected before the Civil War on a lot given to Lorimier's secretary, Bartholomew Cousins (COUSIN, sks), in 1806 in payment for his survey of the village.

Old photographs of the street show that the buildings were mostly warehouses. There were three or four dwellings, but the danger of high water made home sites unwise. The basements of the warehouses were often flooded as were first floors of the buildings. Warehouses were built with upper floors, and used Water Street only because of the convenience of getting supplies to boats or receiving shipments from them.

At the time of the Civil War, every lot on Water Street had a warehouse or store. There was one hotel. During high water, the steamboats were on the street level.

Because of the extensive damage from floods, it became necessary to erect the flood wall in 1956. It was completed in 1960. Residents did not like the wall because they couldn't see the river with a clear view so the Levee District engaged Y.J. Susuki, a talented Japanese gardener to plant Japanese Crab Apple trees, tulips and other spring flowers to beautify the street.

Susuki continued planting shrubs and flowers, which changed and enhanced the street into a garden. Mrs. Susuki assisted her husband in the project.

The Susukis are gone, but the memory of their contributions lives on in the minds of many older residents of the city.