Habitat home moved from Southeast campus to North Main Street in Cape Girardeau

Lee Kennedy has lived in his red brick house on North Main Street for 50 years. Over the years, neighbors came and went, but he never saw a house arrive like the Habitat for Humanity house.

"We saw the police cars come by and we knew things were happening," he said.

Kennedy said he monitored TV and radio coverage of the arrival of the house as it traveled across town Wednesday afternoon. Neighbors sat in lawn chairs and watched as crews maneuvered half of a house into their neighborhood.

The structure was built on Southeast Missouri State University campus during a two-week span by students and volunteers. Starting at about 8 a.m. Wednesday, construction crews split the house in half, loaded it onto two trailers, drove it across town and placed it on its foundation. The process took about nine hours for half of the house. Police escorted the structure down Broadway around noon disrupting lunchtime traffic for 20 minutes. The second half was placed later in the evening.

During the morning preparations, Kevin McMeel brought his construction project administration class out to observe. His students moved cinder blocks and helped with traffic as the procession moved downtown.

"It gets them out of listening to me for an hour," he said. McMeel, a former construction worker, said he has never seen anything like it before.

After the house traveled two miles across town to its site on North Main Street, the project had some setbacks.

The crane had to be replaced, and tree branches had to be cut down. On the third try, the crane balanced the house in midair as it hung from a series of beams. Onlookers watched as it floated close to a neighboring house.

Ashlei Sterling said she had butterflies in her stomach as half of her new house hovered several feet in the air.

"I'm a nervous wreck right this minute," she said.

Sterling, her husband, John, and their four children live in a two-bedroom apartment. Their new house will have four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a full basement. She said she put hundreds of hours into building this and other homes for Habitat for Humanity.

"It's nice to tell our kids we actually helped build our own house," she said.

Sterling said that with the help of volunteers, it will take at least six weeks to complete the interior of the house.

Bruce Skinner, director of the Office of Residence Life, said the possibility of moving a house across town seemed easier three months ago when he first got the idea.

"And here it teeters," he said.

Skinner said that by having the project on campus, students got involved; more than 200 helped build the house.

Just after 5 p.m. workers matched half of the house with the foundation, after adjusting it a half-inch. Skinner said it is unlikely the university will try the project the same way in the future. Habitat for Humanity is looking for sites closer to campus, he said.

"I think the novelty of moving a Habitat house wears off after one," Skinner said.

abusch@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent Address:

1 University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, MO