Former Marquette School, Pike Lodge comes down

Construction debris in an otherwise empty field at 2815 S. Sprigg St. in Cape Girardeau is all that remains of a building with a rich history: the former Marquette School, later the Pike Lodge.

The building had been on the Cape Girardeau endangered buildings list since 2015, described in city documents as a two-room brick building, featuring a hipped roof and a projecting pavilion. It had fallen into disrepair in recent years, after multiple acts of vandalism, according to previous reporting by the Southeast Missourian.

The building cost $15,000 to construct in 1924, according to the Southeast Missourian archives — about $217,000 today. Then in the Rock Levee School District, south of the city, the building replaced the Rock Levee school building, which burned circa 1916. The Marquette School building was hailed as “the finest (school) in the county.”

A 1924 article on the school noted the new structure had been erected by the Marquette Cement Manufacturing Co. on the site of the previous school building, as part of an agreement between the school board and the company: The company would build the school if the school board would sell the old building, and site, to the company.

The school served 74 pupils at its inception. When the school closed in 1968, its 40 pupils were sent to Cape Girardeau public schools under an agreement reached by the two districts, archives stated. With the dissolving of the Marquette School District in 1968, only three common school districts were left in Cape Girardeau County: Pecan Grove, Abernathy and Campster, of which only Pecan Grove was operating a school at the time.

Then in 1974, the building was sold to Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity of Southeast Missouri State University to be used for social events, according to Southeast Missourian archives. Known as the Pike Lodge, it went on the market again in 2013, with an asking price of $34,900.

In 2013, fraternity chapter adviser Trae Bertrand told the Southeast Missourian, “The Pike Lodge essentially has become too deteriorated and too costly to maintain.”

Littering on the property was also a concern, according to the article.

In May 2013, Quinn Strong, a former member of Pi Kappa Alpha, had plans to renovate the building into a home and have it listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but the structure did not pass the review process.

Cape Girardeau city planner Ryan Shrimplin said Tuesday the demolition permit for the building was issued Dec. 3, and he is not aware of any development plans.

Online records indicate the lot is owned by Lone Star Industries, parent company of Buzzi Unicem, at 2524 S. Sprigg St. in Cape Girardeau.

A request for comment from Buzzi Unicem was not returned Tuesday.