Judge Limbaugh to tell about historic Fort A site

The next installment of the Cape River Heritage Museum's speaker series program offers a closer look at a local Civil War site.

U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. will deliver a presentation "Fort A, River Vista" at 11 a.m. Saturday at the museum, 538 Independence St.

Forts A and D overlook the river, with Fort A situated north of what now is considered downtown and Fort D to its south. Renovation of the Civil War site on Bellevue Street was completed in February.

Limbaugh said his slideshow stretches from an 1862 drawing of Broadway Hill to photos taken as recently as this week.

"Really, the presentation isn't just about the fort, but about the whole area that's immediately north of the Cape Girardeau downtown," he said.

U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. speaks to the new U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony July 4 in Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

The Fort A site as it exists now largely consists of a promontory with a large American flag, but Limbaugh said that area is really just "the southeastern-most point of the fort" as it existed during the Civil War. It once encompassed the entire block along Bellevue Street.

Limbaugh and his wife, Marsha, have lived in the same home on the dead end of Bellevue Street for 37 years, he said -- a home they chose because of its Mississippi River view. Their longtime interest in downtown and the river played a large part in the renovation of Fort A.

He bought the property and cleared it to allow those standing at the site one of the town's best views of the Mississippi River.

"The property where the fort is now has really been inaccessible because of the structures that were there before, [such as] the apartment building," said Limbaugh. "Nobody's ever really seen Cape Girardeau and the river from that vantage point, even the people that lived there before it was torn down. It was so overgrown, they could hardly see through the brush and trees."

Limbaugh's involvement in local history efforts doesn't end with Fort A. He was among the speakers in a January ceremony unveiling a historical marker at the bottom of the Common Pleas Courthouse, regarding Ulysses S. Grant's brief stay in Cape Girardeau and celebrating the city's new placement on the U.S. Grant Trail.

He also is in his fifth year as the president of the State Historical Society of Missouri, which opened a research facility on the Southeast Missouri State University campus in recent years with retired university history professor Dr. Frank Nickell at the helm. The area is fortunate to have such interest and cooperation between the university, local historical groups, museums and Civil War re-enactment groups, Limbaugh said.

"Cape Girardeau enjoys a rich history that a lot of people don't know about," he said.

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

538 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.