OLIVER-LEMING HOUSE HOSTS A CELEBRATION HONORING MISSOURI FLAG

Liesl Schoenberger playing "Turkey in the Straw" Wednesday at the Missouri Flag Day dedication in front of the Oliver-Leming home where the flag was created.

Decked out in the red, white and blue of the American and Missouri flags, Cape Girardeau's historic Oliver-Leming house served as a fitting backdrop Wednesday for the celebration of Missouri Flag Day.

It was in this stately, white-columned home that Marie Elizabeth Watkins Oliver, wife of state senator R.B. Oliver, designed and created the Missouri flag in 1908. It was officially adopted as the state flag on March 22, 1913.

Despite the dreary, rainy weather, about 70 people turned out for the Wednesday morning celebration at the home at 740 N. Street, many of them crowding onto the large porch to stay dry.

"I am astounded so many people turned out on such a rotten day," said Charles Woodford of the local American Legion, who helped organize the event.

In addition to American Legion Post 63 and its auxiliary, the celebration was sponsored by the Cape River Heritage Museum and the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Woodford said it was appropriate that the American Legion was honoring the Missouri flag since the national organization was founded at a meeting of veterans in St. Louis in May 1919.

Gov. Mel Carnahan was unable to attend the ceremony, but sent a letter that was read to the crowd.

"To some, the state flag of Missouri may be nothing more than cloth and stitches; they are not looking hard enough. The state flag of Missouri is a representation of Missouri itself," he wrote.

"The history, strength, culture, courage and ingenuity of Missourians are what really holds our glorious flag together," said Carnahan.

The ceremony included some fiddle playing by 9-year-old Liesl Schoenberger, a fourth-grader at St. Mary's School. Schoenberger, who won the fiddle contest at last month's SEMO District Fair, played several tunes, including "Turkey in the Straw" and the "Missouri Waltz," as her classmates looked on.

"Standing before this lovely and historic home ... we can only imagine the interesting people and probably the historic events that have occurred here," said Tom Giles of the American Legion.

The Oliver-Leming house, built near the turn of the century, is on the National Register of Historic Places. A plaque on the outside of the home proclaims that fact. The plaque doesn't explain that the house is the birthplace of the Missouri flag.

That situation was remedied Wednesday when local American Legion officials presented to the house's current owners -- David Taylor and Keith Heinrich -- a plaque denoting that bit of history.

On hand for the celebration were two of the home's former occupants -- Cape Girardeau businessman Charles C. "Bud" Leming and Debi Oliver, wife of local attorney John Oliver.

Leming's parents, Thelma and M.E. Leming Jr., purchased the three-story home in 1947.

"I was 16 years old when we moved in," recalled Bud Leming. He said he lived in the home from 1947 to 1952, when he joined the Navy.

Leming said the spacious house had its advantages. "You could just go anywhere you wanted and find a place to hide."

Leming said, "When I lived here, I drove to college (Southeast Missouri State University)." Today, many students park along North Street and walk the short distance to the campus.

"It was a great place to grow up," said Lois Leming Woodford, the wife of ceremony organizer Charles Woodford and the sister of Bud Leming. "Mother and daddy had lots and lots of parties."

The house was originally the home of John Oliver's great-grandparents.

From May 1986 to July 1987, it was the residence of John and Debi Oliver, even though ownership remained with the Leming family.

"We had several of the (furniture) pieces of the original Oliver family," recalled Debi Oliver.

She said her son regularly climbed the massive ginkgo tree. "I could never get my 10-year-old son to come out of it for dinner."

The home's current residents, Taylor and Heinrich, acquired the property in March 1988. Since then, they have spent thousands of dollars fixing up the home.

"We're doing both restoration work and renovation work," said Taylor.

A music room in the house is being decorated in the style of the 1850s and 1860s. But the remainder of the structure is being renovated to the late Victorian style of the late 1880s or 1890s.

"We've done a lot of major work on the house that doesn't show," said Taylor. Such work includes a new roof and heating and air-conditioning systems as well as some electrical rewiring and plumbing improvements.

"We are going to finish off the attic and make it into a living area," said Taylor.

Heinrich said now that the major structural items have been addressed, the restoration work is entering a more cosmetic stage.

Taylor and Heinrich have filled the house with antique furniture. "I've been collecting antiques for about 30 years now," said Heinrich, who likes the late 1800s period with its art nouveau style.

Prior to moving to Cape Girardeau, the two men had an 18-room house in St. Louis' Central West End.

Heinrich said he remembers the first time he saw the Oliver-Leming house. "I saw it and I thought it was part of the university," he recalled. He said he wasn't even sure at the time if it was for sale because the "for-sale" sign was in the side yard.

Heinrich said that in the late 1940s when the Leming family purchased the house, "people weren't into restoration." But he said the Leming family made no significant changes to the house.

As for the current renovation effort, Heinrich does much of the work himself. "Some of it has been learning as we go," he said.