Penzel finds ties with projects

The ties that link the Cape Girardeau city hall project and the county's justice center project are rooted in Jackson contractor Phil Penzel's German heritage.

Penzel's firm is building the new courthouse in Jackson and his design-build team was recently hired to transform the Common Pleas Courthouse and Annex into a new city hall.

Penzel said Thursday he is committed to preserving Cape Girardeau's courthouse and annex in part because of his ancestors.

His ancestors came to America by ship from Germany. They arrived in New Orleans in November 1853, Penzel said.

They then traveled up the Mississippi River to Cape Girardeau, arriving in January 1854, the same year the Common Pleas Courthouse was constructed.

"I can imagine my ancestors landing in Cape Girardeau only to see the courthouse being built," he wrote last month in an email to former federal judge and longtime attorney Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr.

"It is so exciting to know that six generations later I will be able to touch a building that they saw being built when they arrived," he wrote.

Penzel's ancestors settled in Jackson, where there was a German immigrant camp. They bought 100 acres of land, he said.

His ancestors lived on property near the justice center, he said. Over the years, generations of Penzels lived in the house at 211 Missouri St.

His grandparents lived there as did Penzel ancestors before them. "My dad and his twin sister were born in that house," Penzel said.

The house, located across the street from the new justice center, was torn down earlier this year to make room for a parking lot, Penzel said.

The site currently serves as a staging area for the ongoing construction of the justice center, he said.

Penzel said his ancestors were builders too. For 165 years, Penzels have constructed buildings in Cape Girardeau County, he added.

"It is astounding," Penzel said of how his family heritage ties in with the Cape Girardeau and Jackson projects. "I don't even know how to explain it."

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