HISTORIANS OFFER TRIBUTE TO 'OUR DEAR BROTHER JOSEPH'

~Correction: Lansman died in 1895. He built a former county courthouse in Jackson (1871), not the current structure.

You may not know him, but you know his work.

Joseph Lansman, one of the premier architects of the region during the 1800s, was the builder responsible for many of the area's landmarks. He had a close relationship with the Vincentian monks and built many structures for them from his arrival to Cape Girardeau in 1837 until his death in 1899.

His professional works in Cape Girardeau County include buildings at St. Vincent's Seminary, St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church and parochial school, Hoche House and the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau and the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson.

In addition, Lansman is responsible for other regional structures, including the Burfordsville Covered Bridge and the St. Mary's of the Barrens Administration Building in Perryville.

Despite his prolific career, however, Lansman has not received public recognition for his work. When he died, it was in obscurity, despite his professional work and service as a city alderman and on various civic boards.

However, two local historians and genealogists are now working to give Lansman his due.

"Our Dear Brother Joseph: The life of Joseph Lansman," is the most recent effort from collaborators Sharon Sanders and Diane Bryant.

"We realized this man built a great number of edifices in the county and there was nothing to honor him," said Bryant. "How can a man do all these great things and not even be known?" Bryant asked.

Buildings erected by Lansman are in some instances difficult to identify because other builders also used typical German styles. In nearly every Lansman structure, the upper brick line is turned at a 45-degree angle to the exterior, giving it a rippled appearance. He also used flat limestone slabs for window sills and placed chimney flues flush with the roof surface on limestone bases.

"We couldn't always identify them positively, but there were several times when we looked and said, `That could be a Lansman'" said Sanders.

Sanders and Bryant conducted extensive research in the six years it took to complete the book on Lansman. Family lore and other limited information about Lansman was in many instances contradictory to documented history, and the project changed from being a historical work to one that could finally set the record straight.

"We relied on abstracts and newspaper clippings and other recorded documents," Sanders said. "At heart, I'm a historic preservationist, not a writer, but the history of this needs to be presented in case they ever have to take the buildings down."

Bryant hopes Southeast Missouri State University will see fit to honor Lansman as it develops its River Campus on the grounds of the seminary.

The university plans to convert the seminary into a school for the visual and performing arts.

Lansman built all but one of the standing structures at the seminary, but his ties with the university go even further, she said.

"Ironically, he donated the land for the first Normal School, which became Southeast Missouri State University," she said. "My move now is to utilize the bricks (from renovation plans) and plead with SEMO to build a monument to him."

Copies of the Lansman book will be donated to the Cape Girardeau Public Library and Riverside Regional Library in Jackson. Copies also can be purchased by contacting Bill Eddleman, president of the Cape County Genealogical Society, at 335-1507.