DESPITE CHANGES, BROADWAY STILL HAS HISTORIC FLAVOR

Broadway is a busy east-west street that extends from the Mississippi River west to Kingshighway. It is crowded with a steady stream of traffic from early morning until late at night.

At one time it was a narrow path that eventually was widened into a road that permitted horse-drawn wagons and buggies to pass each other. In those days it was known as Harmony, or the Jackson Pike, because it connected Cape Girardeau to Jackson, the Cape Girardeau County seat.

Even before the Civil Was there were many large residences along the thoroughfare. In time the houses disappeared and businesses replaced them. The trend continued as the city moved westward.

The change in the type of architecture in the 300 block of Broadway, in which the Southeast Missourian is situated, conveys a segment of the city's history that is interesting and typical of many areas throughout the city.

The story was recalled many years ago to this writer by one of the Russchamp children. He had become elderly and took great pleasure in remembering the happy days of his childhood, when the family occupied a large mansion-type home on the southeast corner of Broadway and Fountain.

The residence was purchased in the late 1800s by August and Amelia Russchamp so their five children would have a place to play. The father owned a general store at 119 N. Main, and the family lived over the store. It was wonderful to be able to play in the large yard that surrounded the 10-room stone house that became their home and have playmates because other children lived in the 300 block of Broadway.

The new house had been built before the Civil War by Col. Thomas Johnson, who had enough money to have the house beautifully landscaped and furnished. A servants house joined the big house on the east by upper and lower latticed verandas.

There were many trees in the yard, fruit as well as flowering and evergreens. A two-foot gray stone wall encircled the property. It was one of the most beautiful homes in the city.

After Mr. Russchamp died the house was sold to the federal government for a post office in 1910. The Russchamp's moved to a red brick house on the southwest corner of Lorimier and Independence.

When the children were young Judge Robert L. Wilson lived across the street from the Russchamps, and his daughter, Aileen, was one of the children's playmates. She became Mrs. Frederick A. Groves. Next door to the Russchamps was Olga Arthur. Her father was the Rev. Samuel E. Arthur, rector of the Episcopal church of the corner of Themis and Fountain. At the last corner lived Aunt Kate Doyle and her talking parrot in a very large southern-type home. Aunt Kate's brother and a servant lived with her.

Aunt Kate made delicious cookies for the children and served them with equally delicious lemonade made with real lemons, not canned juice. It was fun to sit on the steps of the house on a warm day and eat cookies and sip lemonade, and try to talk to the parrot. He said such funny things. "We would laugh so hard sometimes we would choke on our cookies and then the parrot would try to mimic us." said Russchamp.

The Missourian building occupies the Doyle house site today, and the Marquette hotel building, now in shambles, is where the Wilson house stood. It was a beautiful home.

The present Federal Building was started in the 1960s and was ready for occupancy Nov. 1, 1968. When the cornerstone was laid copies of many things about the city were put in a box, including some of the historical stories of this writer.

The building was designed by Edward J. Robson of St. Louis. Marcel Boulicault Inc. of Washington, D.C. served as engineers. Plans were approved by J. Roland Snyder and prepared under the direction of Lawson B. Knott Jr.

The structure is faced with rose-red aggregate made in Colorado. The building is one of the imposing structures in Cape Girardeau.

All persons who come from foreign countries and become naturalized citizens take the oath of allegiance and are sworn in as citizens of the United States in the federal courtroom of the building.

The street has a different sound today than when the Russchamp children Aileen and Olga and the O'Donoghue and Greene children played and visited Judge Greene's flower gardens to look at and enjoy but not pick the flowers.

The Greene Gardens have been restored by Friends of the May Greene Gardens under the care of the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Jim Grebing is the president of the board and Jim Logan is president of Friends of The Gardens.

The street is different but interesting. The residents are glad the New Orleans Restaurant, 300 Broadway, which burned, was rebuilt because it, like Col. Thomas Johnson's old home, was saturated in the history of Cape Girardeau.