CAPE GIRARDEAU'S OPEN HOUSE: 1993 BICENTENNIAL SPRING TOUR OF HISTORIC HOMES & PLACES

Close encounters of the historic and architectural kind await visitors on Sunday's 1993 Bicentennial Spring Tour of Historic Homes & Places.

For instance:

Twin sisters Paula and Mary Kempe shared their ancestral home for 85 years until Mary, the former city librarian, died last year. Paula, a retired school teacher, moved to the Lutheran Home. Now the house at 226 N. Ellis St., replete with original chandeliers and a five-landing staircase, is for sale.

The builders of the 90-year-old Huhn-Harrison home at 340 Lorimier St. believed in planning ahead. The house's staircase leads to a trap door. Behind the door is an unfinished second floor built just in case the space was ever needed.

The same St. Louis architectural firm that designed the Missourian building and the Hecht's building in downtown Cape Girardeau fashioned the spacious English Tudor home that now serves as the Centenary United Methodist parsonage.

The stately McBride-Campbell Every home at 702 North St. was designed by the architect responsible for Union Station in St. Louis and Academic Hall at Southeast Missouri State University.

Wildwood, the residence of the university's president, was once used as a wine cellar.

The nine-stop tour, which lasts from 1-5 p.m., includes the Glen House and the Cape River Heritage Museum, two well-known historic spots in Cape Girardeau. But the public is getting an opportunity to see some of the other seven houses on the tour for the first and in some cases perhaps the last time.

"A lot haven't been on a tour before, and I really doubt a lot of them will be on a tour again," said Loretta Dodd, co-chairwoman of the tour along with Fran Rediger.

"This year we have been fortunate," Dodd said. "A lot of people have been renovating and they felt comfortable enough to let us do it."

The city's bicentennial celebration this year was an extra incentive, Dodd said. The tour is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Bicentennial Commission.

The $10 tour tickets are available at any of the stops, along with all Boatmen's Bank locations in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Schnucks and JCPenney.

The Stiver home at 406 N. Louisiana Ave. is the tour's designated beginning, although the houses may be seen in any order.

Designed by horticulturist and civic leader Gladys Brooks Stiver, the Stiver Cape Cod-style house was built during the Depression but the bricks, the carved walnut stairwell and much of the furniture date to the 1890s. Much of it was salvaged from the dismantled home of Maj. James F. Brooks, who was current-owner Charles Stiver's grandfather and a veteran of the Civil War.

The furnishings include an 1803 grandfather's clock bought second-hand by Maj. Brooks.

Dodd says purists especially will enjoy the Huhn-Harrison home, which has been altered little since built by R.F. and Cecilia Huhn in 1903-04.

Huhn was the father of the late Hazel Huhn, the wife of current owner B.W. Harrison.

Cecilia's wedding dress and photograph will be on display, along with the Huhn family furniture and antiques collected by the Harrison family.

No two doors and windows are alike. All were made on the site.

The home is not air conditioned but remains cool because of its 11-foot ceilings and 16-inch-thick brick walls.

In one case, people who take the tour are being asked to provide information about one of the homes.

The Briney residence at 25 N. Fountain St. is thought to have been built in the early 1890s. It was converted to a duplex after the Depression. The current owners, Jeff and Julie Briney, have returned the house to a single home.

They have added a half-bath downstairs, and a full bath upstairs, along with a new kitchen.

The Brineys, who have three children, a dog and a cat, turned the attic into a family room.

The house includes many original features, including the fireplaces, pocket doors and columns.

Because so little is known about the house's early history, visitors are being asked to write down any information they have and give it to a hostess or talk to the owners.

Wildwood, the residence named by the wife of former university president W.W. Parker, was part of a 124-acre farm the university bought in 1922. Initially it consisted only of four rooms atop a two-story wine cellar.

Wings were added, and under the guidance of developer and college regent Louis B. Houck, it was converted into a residence for the institution's presidents. Those who have lived in Wildwood include Joseph Serena, Parker, Mark Scully, Robert Leestamper, Bill Stacy and now Kala Stroup.

August H. Kempe bought his home in 1900 from contractor Fred Pape and his wife Laura. The price was $2,800. An accountant for the Southeast Missouri Trust Co., Kempe also owned the Idan-Ha Hotel, which formerly occupied the southwest corner of Broadway and Fountain Street.

Paula Kempe currently is writing the story of the life she spent in the house.

Dodd promises something for everyone including refreshments at the Glen House. "Nobody's going to be disappointed when they go on the tour," she said.