City shaped by black history

A crime lab on Merriwether Street. A community center on Frederick Street. An office building in Jackson.

From the outside, there's little evidence of the buildings' significance -- no plaques to proclaim their past, no paintings of them hanging in museums.

Yet the history of the area's African American community was shaped in many of these buildings -- in classrooms that saw the end of segregation, in church vestibules where bonds were strengthened and God was praised, in businesses that served the community when others wouldn't.

Most of these buildings no longer serve their original purpose. Some have undergone recent revitalizations, others have been torn down.

"A lot of those buildings from the segregated era have been destroyed," said Dr. Frank Nickell, director of the Southeast Missouri Regional History Center at Southeast Missouri State University. "There used to be a lot of small businesses downtown that were black enterprises but they're pretty well gone as well."

Still, the impact of the events that took place and the people who passed through each building remains.

St. James AME Church, 516 North St. in Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

St. James AME Church

This church dates back to 1863, when services were first held in a room across from church's present location at 516 North St. in Cape Girardeau.

The building was constructed in 1875. Historical accounts hold that as many as 200 people at a time were converted to Christianity during a revival here in the 1890s. The church also provided social opportunities with youth groups and also community gatherings.

The congregation of about 80 people meets each Sunday and Wednesday for regular services.

Holy Family Catholic Church on South Sprigg Street was dedicated Oct., 6, 1940. (Southeast Missourian file photo)

Holy Family Catholic Church

On Oct. 4, 1940, this "Negro mission" of St. Vincent's Catholic Church was dedicated, according to a story published in the Southeast Missourian. The mission included a school from 1942 to 1958. The building is located at 1503 S. Sprigg St.

Jackson's school

The former school for black students in Jackson, 221 S. Oklahoma St. (Fred Lynch)

In 1947, the city of Jackson built a new two-room brick school for black students at 221 S. Oklahoma Street. Within a few years, the building had grown too small for first- through 12th-graders, so high school students were bused to Cape Girardeau's John Cobb school.

The building is now used to hold the school district's support services office and will soon be torn down as part of a renovation project at Jackson High School.

The former Second Missionary Baptist Church, 428 S. Frederick St., in Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

Second Missionary Baptist Church

For more than 130 years, this African American Baptist Church stood in the same location.

According to a history published in 1957, the church has its roots in the bonds of slavery, formed after the Civil War, when black members of First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau decided to meet separately from white members.

In 1873 they purchased a lot at the corner of Jefferson and Frederick streets and constructed their first church.

After constructing a new building on Beaudean Lane, Second Missionary's former facility at 428 S. Frederick St. was purchased in 2005 by La Croix United Methodist Church, a predominantly white congregation, as part of a joint venture with New Bethel Baptist Church, a predominantly black congregation.

The two churches are renovating the building into "The Bridge," a community building for events like block parties, a breakfast program for youth and a reading program for all ages.

Lincoln School at 731 Merriwether St. was built in 1890. It was renamed John S. Cobb School. (Southeast Missourian file photo)

John Cobb School

In 1890, Cape Girardeau's all-black school, Lincoln School, was constructed at the intersection of Ellis and Merriwether. In 1925, it was renamed John S. Cobb School following the death of Cobb, a former slave and one of the city's first black educators. The school was destroyed by fire in 1953 and was not rebuilt because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional in 1954.

All that remains of Cobb school is the gymnasium, which currently serves as part of the Cape Girardeau Police Department's crime lab.

cmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128