Cape city in legal battle over historic property along Bloomfield Road

The city of Cape Girardeau and the owners of the historic Elmwood property are locked in legal battle over the city’s plans to widen Bloomfield Road.

Court-appointed commissioners have concluded the city should pay about $55,000 to Elmwood Farms, but the lawyer for the property owners has asked the judge in the case to increase compensation by 50 percent because of its “heritage value.”

Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis has scheduled a hearing on the motion at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau.

A real-estate appraiser hired by Elmwood Farms’ lawyer, James F. Waltz of Cape Girardeau, estimated last year the land itself has a market value of $140,000.

The appraiser, John Karnes, said the city proposes to take 1.965 acres of a 17-acre tract situated on Bloomfield Road at the entrance to Elmwood, the historic house of one of Cape Girardeau’s pioneer families and later the home of famed civic leader Louis Houck.

The land being taken by the city does not include the house.

The property is owned by Patrick and Cheryl Evans, descendants of the storied Giboney and Houck families.

The city wants the property for road right of way and an easement for a walking trail, according to court documents.

Karnes said his assessment of the land’s value did not include any estimate of heritage value.

Karnes said the property owners should receive heritage value because the land has been in the possession of the same family for “well in excess of 50 years,” as required by state law.

In an affidavit last month, Karnes stated construction of a trail easement will introduce pedestrian traffic, diminishing the value of the Elmwood property.

Karnes said the “taking” also would lead to a “loss of privacy and quiet enjoyment.”

The city plans to widen the road and build a walking trail from the Benton Hill Road (County Road 206) intersection to White Oaks Lane near the Dalhousie Golf Club.

The judge ruled in May the city could take the land needed for the project. The judge also named three commissioners to determine a value for the land. Commissioners Herb Annis, Ralph Hendrickson and Kathy Bertrand filed their report with the circuit court June 29, setting the value at $55,030.

Local historian Frank Nickell said Alexander Giboney settled along Bloomfield Road about 1795, obtaining a Spanish land grant for a huge tract. Nickell said there has never been a mortgage on the Elmwood property because of its land-grant status. At one time, the Bloomfield Road property covered more than 1,000 acres, he said.

The Giboney family owned lots of land in the region. According to Nickell, “The Giboneys could travel from Cape Girardeau to Sikeston and never leave their property.”

A natural spring on the Elmwood property was a popular stopping place for thirsty travelers who used the road. The spring remains a short distance from Bloomfield Road.

Long before it was a farm-to-market road, it likely was a trail used by American Indians, said Nickell, head of the Cape Girardeau research center of the state historical society and a former Southeast Missouri State University history professor.

The 17-room, two-story brick home known as Elmwood originally was called Dalhousie Castle, after an ancient castle in Scotland. Its exterior has a castle appearance. The Giboney family was of Scottish ancestry, Nickell said.

The Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau is situated on land that once was part of the Giboney-Houck property. Houck married a Giboney in 1872. Nickell said the home became known as Elmwood when Houck resided there.

While historic, the house is not on the National Register of Historic Places. Nickell said that is because the Giboneys and Houcks have guarded their privacy.

“For 200 years, the goal of the Giboneys and Houcks has been to keep people off their property,” he said.

The historic home sits about a mile off Bloomfield Road.

Nickell said the property owners worry the Bloomfield Road trail “will encourage people to come onto the property.”

Nickell said he wishes the city would not widen Bloomfield Road, but rather maintain its country-road appearance and the canopy of trees that extend over it.

Bloomfield Road is considered “the most haunted” road in Missouri, he said.

According to one story, the “Mad Lucy” ghost has haunted the road since a buggy accident injured a woman in the 1800s.

Ghosts or no ghosts, city officials are ready to move ahead with the project, which will include removal of trees near the existing pavement.

City officials have insisted the project will improve traffic safety.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

Bloomfield Road, from Benton Hill Road to White Oaks Lane, Cape Girardeau, Mo.