FED BUILDING SITE WRANGLING NOT NEW

Cape Girardeau has a history of losing and almost losing historic buildings to the federal headache ball.

The city's federal building history runs through one razed mansion, detours through the U.S. Supreme Court and Common Pleas Courthouse, and winds up at the box-like building that replaced a marble and granite edifice one editorialist called "almost majestic."

The General Services Administration currently is shopping for a new square-block downtown home for the federal building. Among the areas under consideration are blocks that are home to a number of historic houses.

The blocks bounded by North Lorimier, Themis, Independence and Middle streets "probably have 15 houses that qualify for our Local Landmark designation," according to John Schneider, chairman of the city's Historic Preservation Commission.

If one of the properties were on the National Register of Historic Places, taking one of the blocks would become more problematic for the GSA. But listing on the National Register does not prevent the government from using eminent domain.

Neighbors are now organizing and circulating petitions to let the federal government know they don't want the building placed there.

No such protests were recorded when the first federal building was built in Cape Girardeau in 1910. It replaced a pre-Civil War mansion at the southeast corner of Broadway and Fountain streets. The mansion, owned by a merchant named Ruesskamp, had double parlors and a two-story latticed porch that ran along most of the east side and looked out on a garden.

That new building, occupying three stories and a basement, housed courtrooms and offices upstairs and the post office in the basement and first floor. It was a jewel of granite and marble with a revolving door the local children took for a merry-go-round.

A story in the March 14, 1910, Daily Republican (forerunner of the Southeast Missourian) described it as "an elegant pile of architecture."

In 1940 the federal government and the city agreed to a swap of the federal building for Common Pleas Courthouse. The idea was approved by a majority of the city's voters.

The federal government intended to raze the structure in Common Pleas Courthouse Park, a building now considered one of Cape Girardeau's historic treasures.

The exchange was interrupted by World War II, and challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court by an heir of city founder Don Louis Lorimier, who had given the park to the city in perpetuity.

The court eventually allowed the swap, but for years it remained an exchange in name only.

Meanwhile, both buildings fell into disrepair under the cross-ownership agreement. In 1954, petitions began circulating asking the federal government to return Common Pleas Courthouse Park to the city.

"There is perhaps no building and grounds of any greater historic significance in this part of the country," the petition stated.

U.S. Rep. Paul C. Jones, Missouri's 10th District congressman, carried the bill returning the park and courthouse to the city. They were deeded back to Cape Girardeau in 1957.

In 1965, the post office moved to a new building on Frederick Street. And in 1967, the old federal building was torn down to make way for the present structure. A few college-age men carried placards outside protesting the demolition.

The current building was dedicated the next year.

Neighbors in the blocks under consideration by the GSA for the new federal building wonder whether a National Register of Historic Places designation would stop the federal government from taking one of the blocks. Some of the houses might qualify, but the procedure for qualifying is highly involved and lengthy, Schneider said.

Several of the residents said they are trying to place properties on the register.

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 provides protection for properties listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The act sets up a process in which the federal agency proposing an undertaking, the state historic preservation officer, interested individuals and organizations participate.

A National Register designation won't stop the federal government from taking property through eminent domain but increases the chances that an alternative site will be chosen.

The GSA's rules make the taking of historic property more difficult.

"Avoidance of adverse effects through the selection of alternatives shall be, to the extent that it is prudent and feasible to do so, the preferred option for all GSA undertakings," they state.