Cape city officials scrap plan for trolley rails sculpture

The city of Cape Girardeau has scrapped a plan to create a downtown sculpture out of rusted trolley rails, Mayor Harry Rediger said Thursday.

“It’s right now a dead issue,” the mayor said.

Rediger had championed the proposed sculpture, suggesting only a few weeks ago the city apply for a federal grant to fund 50 percent of the estimated $40,000 to $60,000 cost of the project.

City staff said last month the city could dip into its Riverfront Region Economic Development Fund, which is financed partly with Isle Casino Cape Girardeau gaming revenue, for the matching money.

But the funding plan was tabled at the July 24 city council meeting after the majority of council members opposed spending local tax money on the project.

An old trolley rail awaits removal from the intersection of Broadway and Lorimier Street by a Fronabarger Concreters crew May 4, 2012.Fred Lynch

Council members including Rediger then suggested an effort could be made to raise funds privately. Such funding would be needed if the city were to apply for a grant from the Delta Regional Authority.

The authority is an independent, federal agency that serves 252 counties and parishes in the eight-state Mississippi Delta region.

A resolution authorizing a grant application is listed on the draft agenda for Monday’s council meeting.

But Rediger said Thursday city officials now have abandoned the sculpture project entirely for lack of local funding and have not applied for the grant.

With no private donations and the council’s opposition to spending local tax dollars on the project, “we just decided to drop it,” the mayor said.

Cape Girardeau sculptor Nathan Pierce had proposed fashioning art from the old trolley rails that were part of Cape Girardeau’s downtown history.

He said he came up with the idea after seeing the rusted steel dug up and removed as part of recent Main Street improvements.

Pierce proposed a sculpture that would tie together six to eight sections of rail. Erected upright, the rails would stand 18 to 20 feet in height.

It would have been lighted from the ground on the interior and exterior with a color-changing, LED lighting system.

Pierce proposed placing the “Time Tracks” sculpture on the southeast corner of the intersection of Main and Independence streets.

Pierce said he is “disappointed like everyone else” the project has been scrapped.

But he said he still wants to create a sculpture from the rails to highlight part of the city’s history.

Cape Girardeau had a trolley service from 1893 to 1934.

“The historical value of that is awesome,” he said of the old rails.

Pierce said he may create a smaller-scale sculpture from some of the rusted metal and enter it in the annual Broadway sculpture competition.

Winning sculptures are placed on display along Broadway for a year and then replaced with new selections the next year.

Rediger said he would like to see such a sculpture grace the Broadway corridor.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

Main Street and Independence Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.