New Cape Girardeau City Hall dedicated Monday

For the first time in 44 years, the City of Cape Girardeau has new headquarters.

On Monday, city officials hosted a dedication and open house for Cape Girardeau's new City Hall on North Lorimier Street.

Over the past two years, the city developed the former Common Pleas Courthouse and Carnegie Library buildings into a state-of-the-art facility.

Director of Development Services Anna Kangas managed the $12.5 million project.

"The new City Hall is a source of pride for the design-build team as their professionalism and craftsmanship is evident as we walk through this building," Kangas said during the dedication.

This isn't the first time the former Common Pleas Courthouse has housed City of Cape Girardeau staff.

"From 1854 to 1978, the city was here in one form or another," Mayor Bob Fox said.

Construction on the former Common Pleas Courthouse finished in 1854.

The City of Cape Girardeau moved its headquarters from the building to the former Lorimier School on Independence Street in 1978.

However, the building gradually aged and needed updates. Its basement sometimes flooded, it had no elevator and needed an updated heating and cooling system.

Radio personality Kirby Ray takes a picture of the view from the third floor of the new Cape Girardeau City Hall.Monica Obradovic

Fox said it made sense to reuse the Common Pleas Courthouse after Cape Girardeau County administrative offices moved out of the building.

"It's here and we hope it's going to be here forever," Fox said.

According to former city manager Scott Meyer, finding a new City Hall was a long process.

"I was city manager for 12 years, and this was the crowning project on what was a decadelong plan to redo our facilities across the city," Meyer said at the dedication.

In the years after Meyer's hiring, the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex, Cape Splash Family Aquatic Center and Shawnee Park Sports Complex opened and a new police station was built.

For a while, Meyer said finding a location for a new City Hall stumped staff. Meyer credited deputy city manager Molly Mehner and former finance director Victor Brownlees with the idea to transform the former Common Pleas Courthouse and Carnegie Library.

It was a plan for a City Hall of the future, according to Meyer, but it also tied the city to the past.

"We build on the successes of the past and build on the failures of the past," Meyer said.

Development Services director Anna Kangas explains the features of the new Cape Girardeau City Council Chambers in City Hall. The room is in a newly-built structure between the former Common Pleas Courthouse and Carnegie Libary buildings.Monica Obradovic

Meyer acknowledged some of Cape Girardeau's past that was necessary to move away from.

"Not too long ago, council moved a monument from here that was offensive to some people," Meyer said of a Confederate monument the city removed from Ivers Square in 2020.

"Things took place on these grounds that were disgusting -- human beings were sold [here]," he added. "We don't ever forget that, because that's part of what we own, but we have the grace to move forward from that. And we continue to learn from the past."