A PLEA FOR COMMON PLEAS: CITY MAY REOCCUPY HISTORIC COURTHOUSE

Common Pleas Courthouse, which housed city offices for 124 years, could once again do so if county and circuit court offices are moved into the Federal Building on Broadway.

Cape Girardeau County officials are interested in leasing or buying the Federal Building once a new federal courthouse is built. The courthouse is expected to be built and opened by 2004.

City Councilman Tom Neumeyer said it would make sense for the city to use Common Pleas Courthouse and the Courthouse Annex, formerly the public library. The city owns both buildings at Common Pleas Courthouse Park.

"There is a crying need for more office space for the city, and it would be conveniently close to other city facilities," the councilman said Wednesday.

Neumeyer said it also would allow the city to showcase "creative use of our older buildings."

Neumeyer said Common Pleas Courthouse, built in 1854, and the former public library, built in 1922, are solid structures. "These buildings were built to last. They are not these disposable buildings that are being put up now," he said.

For most of its existence, the courthouse has been owned by Cape Girardeau. The city owns the courthouse, the former library building and the surrounding park. The county currently operates and maintains the buildings and grounds. The county doesn't pay rent.

Common Pleas Courthouse housed city offices from 1854 to 1978 when Lorimier School on Independence became the new city hall.

The county then took over operation and maintenance of Common Pleas Courthouse. In 1980, the county took control of the adjacent library building or Courthouse Annex after a new public library opened on Clark Street.

From the beginning, court has been held in the Common Pleas building.

The Cape Girardeau Common Pleas Court dealt with probate and civil matters. The term derives from English law, which distinguished common pleas from pleas of the Crown.

At one time, nearly every Missouri county had a court of common pleas. By the late 1970s, common pleas courts remained only in Cape Girardeau and Hannibal.

On Jan. 2, 1979, those courts became part of Missouri's circuit court system.

The stately brick courthouse, built at a cost of $2,500, sits atop a hill overlooking downtown and the Mississippi River. During the Civil War, the courthouse served as headquarters for the Union Army's provost marshal.

In 1888, the courthouse was remodeled and expanded. The renovations included construction of a portico and installation of a cupola that previously was on the old St. Charles Hotel at Themis and Main streets. Total cost of the work was just over $8,500.

In 1900, concrete steps were poured, replacing the native sandstone blocks. The Portland cement came from England as ballast in ships coming to pick up cotton.

The first toilets were installed in the courthouse in 1911, the same year the Civil War memorial fountain was dedicated in Courthouse Park.

In the 1940s and 1950s, there was talk of tearing down the courthouse.

In 1941, the city traded the courthouse property to the federal government in exchange for an old post office building at the corner of Fountain and Broadway. Voters approved the swap in a straw vote in March of that year.

The federal government planned to tear down Common Pleas Courthouse and build a new post office on that site. The city looked at putting municipal offices in the old post office building.

But the whole issue proved controversial. Heirs of Cape Girardeau founder Louis Lorimier filed suit, contending the property wasn't deeded to the government.

The courthouse was built on land given by Lorimier for a seat of justice in 1805.

Lorimier's heirs ultimately lost their case. The U.S. Supreme Court held the government had a right to condemn the property.

But in 1957, the city and federal governments exchanged properties again with the city getting back the courthouse and the federal government taking back the post office.

In 1965, a new post office opened on Frederick Street.

Two years later, the old post office was demolished.

A new Federal Building was constructed on the old post office site at 339 Broadway. Dedicated in 1968, the building houses federal courts and other federal offices.

COMMON PLEAS COURTHOUSE

1804: Courts of Common Pleas of General Quarter Sessions and the Orphans' Court were established in Cape Girardeau.

1805: Cape Girardeau founder Louis Lorimier gave four acres of land.

1854: Common Pleas Courthouse was built by Joseph Lansmon at a cost of $2,500.

1905: The first session of federal court in Cape Girardeau was held in the Common Pleas courtroom.

1941: The city of Cape Girardeau traded the courthouse property to the federal government in exchange for the post office building at the corner of Fountain and Broadway.

1957: The courthouse and surrounding park were deeded back to the city.

1966: Alterations were made on first floor, formerly occupied by city engineering department. Space was made for offices for the mayor and city manager.

1976: City bought Lorimier School on Independence Street for $200,000 for use as a possible library.

1978: City moved its offices out of the Common Pleas Courthouse and into the new city hall, formerly Lorimier School. Cape Girardeau County took over courthouse.

CAPE GIRARDEAU POST OFFICE

1906: Federal government selected a site at Broadway and Fountain for a federal building and post office.

1907: U.S. government purchased the property at a cost of about $16,000.

1908: Contract was awarded for a new federal building in Cape Girardeau.

1910: Building was dedicated. Cost of construction was about $100,000.

1965: New post office on Frederick Street dedicated.

1968: The Federal Building at 339 Broadway was dedicated.

CARNEGIE LIBRARY

1922: Cape Girardeau Public Library at Common Pleas Courthouse Park was built.

1959: Addition completed.

1976: The library board obtained an option to purchase five acres of land off Broadway on Clark Avenue.

1980: A new library was dedicated at 711 N. Clark. Cape Girardeau County took over operation of the old library building.

1981: The old public library was renamed Common Pleas Courthouse Annex.

1987: The offices of voter registration, county collector and assessor were moved from Cape Girardeau City Hall to Common Pleas Courthouse Annex.