A DREAM COME TRUE; DOCTORS' PARK OPENED IN 1971

At a time when Interstate 55 was under construction and much of Cape Girardeau's west side was farm land, a handful of local doctors had a dream of a multi-speciality medical complex.

Doctors pursued that dream in the mid-1960s.

"This was at a time when most of the doctors' offices were on Broadway and Sprigg and Pacific," said Dr. Charles P. McGinty, one of the founders of Doctors' Park.

"Members of the Internal Medicine Group, the Urology Group, several surgeons, some general practitioners and dental specialists had been meeting weekly, on Fridays for lunch, to discuss the possibility of forming a large group practice," McGinty said.

"We had speakers from multi-specialty groups like the Carle Clinic from Champaign-Urbana and the Mayo Clinic."

The doctors discussed what they liked and what they wanted and developed an idea of a pluralist approach to practicing medicine in a cooperative agreement. But none of the details had really been firmed up.

McGinty said a location near I-55, which was in the process of being completed to St. Louis, appealed to the doctors. "We liked the area of I-55 and Route K and felt it would bring a lot of traffic in.

"We began talking with the Drurys and the Blattners about land in the area."

Early in 1967, doctors looked at the property at Mount Auburn Road and Route K, which is now home to Burger King.

"We considered a multi-speciality, high-rise with the pluralistic approach," McGinty said. But the idea was abandoned.

"The thing that was wrong with the high-rise idea is that it was too close to St. Francis Medical Center," McGinty said. "The great majority of doctors involved didn't want to be identified with one hospital over the other.

"At one time, we entertained the idea of a medical mall, just like a shopping mall."

But the idea of a park-like setting won out.

In 1968, at a Cape Girardeau County Medical Society meeting, McGinty began the official work of creating Doctors' Park in a rather unofficial way.

"I took my hospital patient list, which I carried in my pocket all the time, turned it upside down and passed it around. I asked that everyone interested in forming a study group for a doctors' park sign the paper and send $100 to Dr. Gordon Nunnelly; 29 guys signed the paper and sent their money."

The money was used to hire William Rader and Stan Grimm, at that time law partners, to write the bylaws, articles of incorporation and form a corporation.

McGinty said: "We looked at hundreds of names Cape Girardeau Medical Campus, Southeast Missouri Medical Center but we wanted a name that was as descriptive as possible. We settled on Doctors' Park."

The new corporation bought a 20- acre wheat farm for $7,500 an acre, bordering I-55 and the Holiday Inn. The corporation had an agreement to purchase additional land as the need arose. The park was developed in three stages.

"This was a wheat field," McGinty said. "It was definitely unimproved. There were no sewers, sanitary or storm. Mount Auburn was a gravel road. It was a wheat field with a creek on the edge."

McGinty said Doctors' Park has operated under two main philosophies from the start.

"This was not a real estate venture," he said. "A lot of people don't understand that. This is an effort to get young specialists and family doctors together in one area. We felt that together we could do more than as individuals.

"Second, this was to be an ambulatory area. If you needed to lie down, you required hospitalization. If your care could be ambulatory, you could come here."

The original directors of Cape Girardeau Doctors' Park, Inc. were C.P. McGinty, president; Jean A. Chapman, vice president; S. Edwin Noffel, secretary; and Gordon M. Nunnelly, treasurer.

A total of 18 physicians and dentists joined the group and 20 years later, 14 of the original group are still practicing.

McGinty said that architects Peckham-Guyten designed a master plan for the first 20 acres of the park, including roads and buildings and a lake. The plan showed covered walkways between the buildings, an underground parking area and an overnight facility with hotel-type rooms.

McGinty said, "That shows how far-sighted this idea was."

However, for financial reasons not everything in the master plan was done.

McGinty said: "The way we got money to develop the streets and sewers and site work was as each group got involved and bought lots, we set the price at five times the original price. That gave us money to work on the lots.

"But for a number of years we had to subsidize the park. Each month, stockholders would pay $150."

Now the park is self-supporting.

McGinty said Nunnelly was a key to the early success of Doctors' Park.

"When the sewers and streets, the lake and the first buildings were being built, Dr. Nunnelly was out there making sure everything was done right," McGinty said.

The first buildings were begun in 1970 and initial occupants moved in in 1971. In addition to physicians and specialists, the park offers office space for ancillary services like X-ray facilities, laboratories, pharmacies, and an eating and lounge area.

The first manager of Doctors' Park was a retired U.S. Army major, David Berry.

In 1978, Ron Wittmer took over that job and remains in the administrative position today.

McGinty said: "Dr. Melvin Kasten, Dr. Charles Bahn and I were an employee committee. We interviewed dozens of people before we selected Ron Wittmer. He had experience with P.R. and a degree in hospital administration, the two things we felt we needed."

McGinty, a surgeon who practices in Doctors' Park, said the venture has been a lot of work, but has been well worth the effort.

"When I get depressed that things haven't turned out the way I wanted, I walk or drive through the streets of Doctors' Park, and I get uplifted. This is one thing doctors did together that was really worthwhile.

"And it's not easy to get doctors to work together."