Items from Cape's Marquette Hotel to be auctioned off

At the height of its popularity, the Marquette Hotel in downtown Cape Girardeau was described as "the gem of Southeast" and was considered one of the finest hotels in the Midwest.

Costing more than $300,000 to build in 1928, the hotel was part of a civic plan to establish Cape Girardeau as an area tourist hub and convince travelers of the city's progressiveness and hospitality. After a grand opening that drew 8,000 people in November 1928, the hotel quickly became an important part of the city's culture and history.

Now, more than 80 years later, what's left of the hotel's original interior lies on the dusty floor of an architectural salvage building in Old Appleton and will be sold at auction this weekend.

Among the pieces for sale is one of the Marquette's signs that graced the exterior of the hotel in the 1930s.

Thomas M. Meyer, who owned the architectural salvage building when the sign was acquired, said he was offered a large number of the hotel's fixtures and contents when it was sold in 2002.

"There were originally four signs," Meyer said. "I kept one, sold another one, one got stolen and the other is the one that's in the auction."

Meyer recently sold the salvage warehouse and its contents to Carole Moore and Mike Harvell of Life-Style Design, who were less interested in the building's contents.

"We got into the salvage business to save the building, to tell the truth," Moore said. "We're passionate about buying old buildings and saving them. Having grown up here in Old Appleton, the building was close to my heart, so when Tom Meyer approached us with it, it wasn't so much about owning the salvage business, it was about saving the building and passing it off to the right people who would steward it."

Moore said in addition to the architectural salvage, the 5,000-square-foot building itself, which was a general store that served Old Appleton up until the mid-1980s, will be auctioned off. Moore and Harvell said they have worked hard to repair the building, which had fallen into disarray over the years.

"We're really just the middleman," Harvell said. "We saved the building, fixed the place up and put a new roof on it."

Moore said she hopes the building gets bought by someone who will continue renovation work, but if the building fails to sell, she and Harvell will continue improvements and eventually lease the space to a local group.

As for the Marquette sign, Moore hopes it will "repurposed into artwork. I'd like to see it hanging in somebody's house or in a restaurant for people to enjoy for years. I hate to see things go to waste and just be stuck somewhere and not enjoyed."

Meyer also said he would like to see the Marquette sign publicly displayed.

"The Marquette is incredibly important to the city's past and people should appreciate the history of downtown Cape Girardeau," Meyer said. "Everyone stayed there during its heyday and everyone in town has some connection to the hotel if they go back far enough. Whether a family member worked there or had their honeymoon there, it's an important piece of everyone's history."

The Old Appleton Auction will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Anyone unable to travel to Old Appleton may prebid on items or bid in the live-stream auction that will be simulcast on the Internet by going to auctionzip.com and entering auction ID 8479. Auction items may also be previewed on the website. For more information, call Mike Harvell at 768-4292 or auctioneer Christie Hatman at 417-280-6937.

ssemmler@semissourian.com

388-3648

Pertinent Address:

418 Old Appleton Main St., Old Appleton, MO