200 YEARS: `CITY HISTORY IS ANYTHING BUT BORING'

Cape Girardeau's history is anything but boring, says Martha Bender, chairman of the city's Bicentennial Commission.

For Bender, this is a special time: Cape Girardeau is celebrating its bicentennial this year. The year-long celebration actually began last October.

The city's founder, Louis Lorimier, settled here in 1792 and received a Spanish land grant on Jan. 4, 1793 for what is now the Cape Girardeau area.

Bender believes the numerous bicentennial activities provide a valuable history lesson for Cape Girardeau residents.

"I think it has awakened some interest in the heritage of Cape Girardeau," she pointed out. "You know we have a really colorful history, when you think of the Indians and Lorimier, and the steamboats and the railroads."

Cape Girardeau's German heritage is also visible here in the development of the city's municipal band. "We had a large German population and they brought their love of music," Bender said.

"I think you are better able to appreciate what we have here if you can understand why we developed as a river city," she said.

Bender admits to a love of history. "I think really to like history, you have to be really curious. I am just curious where we came from, what was the beginning of our community and how we developed. It's kind of like a play, a detective story."

Cape Girardeau celebrated both its centennial and sesquicentennial, the last in 1956. But both of those were based on the city's official founding in 1806.

This year's bicentennial celebrates the actual beginnings of a settlement here in 1793, Bender said.

Bicentennial activities this year include lectures on various aspects of Cape Girardeau history, ranging from steamboats to cemetery architecture. The lectures at Southeast Missouri State University began last fall and continue through October.

A number of events are on tap in April, including the Mississippi River Scenic Drive, scheduled for April 24 and 25.

The scenic drive will include activities at Fort D, the site of a civil war fort in Cape Girardeau; and an encampment dating to the 1795 era and the early days of the river city.

The encampment will be held at Elks Lake and feature re-enactors dressed in the style of frontiersmen and trappers.

The encampment is sponsored by the Zenon River Brigade of Jackson, a group of re-enactors. Zenon River was the name originally given to Hubble Creek, which runs through Jackson.

"We've gone to really great lengths to study the time period and how people lived. We have tried to put that knowledge to practical use in camping and hunting situations," said Phil Nash of Jackson, one of the brigade members.

When Cape Girardeau was first settled, the style of clothing would have resembled more that of the American Revolution than the mountain men of the American West.

"The dress pretty much was the same as what you would associate with the American Revolution: knee britches, leggings and moccasins," said Nash.

"One of the major points that we are trying to get across in our encampment is to illustrate how things were when Lorimier came here, the way they camped and some of this kind of thing," said Nash.

Cape Girardeau's annual Riverfest celebration, June 11 and 12, will focus on the city's bicentennial. As part of the celebration, the post office will cancel mail with a special bicentennial stamp at Riverfest.

The Fourth of July celebration will also focus on the city's bicentennial.

On Aug. 14, the Koshare Indian dancers will perform at the Show Me Center. The event features Indian dances performed by Boy Scouts.

Plans are being made to perform an original musical, celebrating the bicentennial, in October.

Cape Girardeau's bicentennial celebration is expected to conclude in October with the sealing of a time capsule at Common Pleas Courthouse.