PROGRESS OF CAPE LINKED TO TWO MEN; LORIMIER, HOUCK PUT TOWN ON MAP

Louis Houck contributed greatly to the development of Cape Girardeau. He was a railroad builder, historian and entrepreneur. This photo, above was taken by Harry L. Albert. It shows Houck standing on a stump, looking at at the rapidly disappearing forests and swamps. At left, three gentlemen travel north on Spanish Street toward Broadway in this 1901 photo. The building in the background is the old Masonic hall, which now houses Keys Music. (JUDITH CROW COLLECTION)

Many Cape Girardeau streets and neighborhoods were lined with trees in years past, above. A few tree-lined streets remain in the south part of town. At right, these two buildings were razed in the early 1960s for construction of the Hirsch Tower in the 300 block of Broadway. The Surety building, at far left, remains today. (G.D. FRONABARGER/ SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN)

ARTIST PRESENTS CITY VIEW IN 1871: This view of Cape Girardeau, at right, was sketched by a staff artist of "Every Saturday" and printed from a wood engraving in 1871. At the top of the hill is shown the Common Pleas Courthouse before its remodeling. At the upper left is the St. Charles Hotel, where Mark Twain and Charles Dickens once stayed. The hotel's cupola was later moved to the courthouse on the hill. Cupolas were used by steamboat pilots as guiding points in early days. Below, The Himmelberger-Harrison Building (today known as the H&H building) is located at the northwest corner of Fountain. The Light Electric and Power Company was located in the building in this photo taken circa 1920, just as Union Electric calls the building home today. (JUDY CROW COLLECTION)

Cape Girardeau's history is linked solidly to two men Louis Lorimier and Louis Houck.

Lorimier settled here 200 years ago. But it was Houck who put the town on the map with his railroad and his efforts in the early development of Southeast Missouri State University.

"I would say those are the vital two economic figures in Cape Girardeau's early history," said Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast. "It's hard to separate them from the community's economic history."

Nickell said Houck, in particular, had a "powerful influence" on Cape's growth.

"I think he played a vital role in the development of the community," said Nickell.

Jackson teacher Linda Nash has done extensive research on Lorimier and plans to write a book about him.

"Probably Houck was more responsible for the growth," she said. But she pointed out Lorimier was clearly a key player in Cape's history.

"Lorimier is certainly responsible for the establishment in the first place, and for bringing the first American settlers in," she said.

Cape Girardeau was little more than a trading post at first. "It wasn't much of a place," said Nash. "What there was, Lorimier had made it."

Early on, the settlement along the west bank of the Mississippi River was called Lorimier's Ferry, she said.

Ultimately it became known as Cape Girardeau, believed to have been named for French ensign Jean Baptiste Girardot, who is credited with setting up a trading post at Cape Rock around 1730. Some historians suggest that one of his sons may have actually been responsible for the site being known as Cape Girardeau.

But it's Lorimier who founded the town.

"I think he was a real character," said Nash. "I would like to do some time traveling myself and go back to Cape Girardeau, a little less than 200 years ago. I think it would be really interesting."

A French Canadian, Lorimier was born on Sept. 26, 1748. He followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a trader with the Indians.

He sided with the English in the American Revolution and later served the Spanish government in the Upper Louisiana territory. He died in 1812 in Cape Girardeau, which by then was part of the United States.

Before moving to this area, Lorimier operated a trading station in Ohio, which became a center of intrigue by the British and Indians against the American colonists.

During the American Revolution, Lorimier led a group of Indians on a raid into Kentucky in 1778. They captured Daniel Boone, holding him hostage for a time.

Four years later, Gen. George Rogers Clark and his Kentucky troops captured Lorimier's store in Ohio. Lorimier barely escaped.

He traveled to Indiana, settling in Vincennes, where he stayed until about 1787. He then crossed the Mississippi River, settling for a time near the present town of St. Marys and engaging in trade with the Indians.

About 1792, Lorimier moved to what is now Cape Girardeau.

The Spanish government awarded him a land grant on Jan. 4, 1793 in recognition of his assistance in trading with the Indians. He was made commandant of the district. In all, Lorimier had title to about 30,000 acres in the Cape Girardeau area.

Lorimier was appointed a judge in the first court established here in 1805, but held the position for only a short time.

He was indicted for horse stealing and other charges. But the charges turned out to be false and were dismissed.

In 1806, the town of Cape Girardeau was officially founded by Lorimier.

There are differing descriptions of Lorimier. By one account, Lorimier was nearly 6 feet tall, walked with an elastic step, had a handsome face and was an elegant equestrian. He reportedly had blue eyes and a profusion of hair, which was tied up in a queue fastened with ribbons. Lorimier reportedly used the queue at times as a horse whip.

But American naturalist and painter John James Audubon records a much different description of Lorimier. Audubon visited Cape Girardeau in 1811, the year before Lorimier's death.

"Lorimier was a little man and wore moccasins, a soiled dress uniform with epaulets, and buckskins with iron knee buckles and Indian gaiters," Audubon wrote.

He said Lorimier was "much respected by Indian nations."

Audubon described Lorimier as being 4 feet, 6 inches tall, "thin in proportion, looking as if he had just been shot out of a popgun. His nose formed, decidedly, the most prominent feature of his spare, meager countenance."

Audubon said Lorimier's nose was "a tremendous promontory fully 3 inches in length hooked like a hawk's beak and garnished with eyes like an eagle's."

The naturalist went on to say that Lorimier's hair "was plastered down close to his head with a quantity of pomatum; it ended in a long queue rolled up in a dirty ribbon that hung down below his waist."

Nash said she believes the best account is one that describes him as being of medium height. "Everybody says he had dark hair, except one person who says he was blond."

Nash believes that Audubon's description may well be an accurate account of how Cape's founder looked late in life after age and sickness had taken their toll.

Lorimier was married to an Indian princess, Charlotte Pemanpieh Bouganville, of French-Indian parentage.

She died on March 23, 1808, and was buried in the first marked grave in Old Lorimier Cemetery. Her body was removed from the Lorimier home and transported by barge, up the river, to the cemetery. The funeral procession followed in canoes.

Lorimier died on June 26, 1812, at the age of 64. He was buried be~side his wife under the Lorimier elm tree in the cemetery that he gave the town. Nearly the entire Indian population in the area reportedly turned out to pay its respects.

Houck was born April 1, 1840, in St. Claire County, Ill. But it's Cape Girardeau's history to which he is firmly tied.

He settled in Cape Girardeau in 1869 at the age of 28.

A man of many talents, Houck was a railroad builder, lawyer, historian and author.

He was instrumental in the establishment of Southeast Missouri State University. He served on the school's Board of Regents for nearly four decades, from 1886 until his death on Feb. 17, 1925. For 36 of those years, he served as president of the board.

When Houck moved here from St. Louis, Southeast Missouri was a wilderness of isolated villages and malaria-ridden swamps.

"Cape Girardeau, an unimportant river landing, with a population of 2,500 souls, was going through the dark Reconstruction Days," Judge Norwin D. Houser said in 1949 in a speech about Houck. Houser made his remarks as part of homecoming ceremonies at Southeast Missouri State.

Houck built the first railroad that extended across the swamps and backwoods of Southeast Missouri. The first rail line, completed in 1880, extended from Cape Girardeau to Delta.

In his personal diary, Houck wrote, "I desire to construct railroads from Cape Girardeau that will branch fan-shape across the swamps and through backwoods country in order to make valuable land and resources available, and give persons living in the hinterlands easy access to the outside world."

Houser said Houck "pioneered in the railroad business with little previous knowledge of the engineering, construction and financing problems involved. All he knew was that he wanted to build railroads, and by the Eternal, he was going to build them.

"He started out with $5,000 in cash, an iron will, and the determination to succeed," Houser said of Houck.

Houck contracted to build the first railroad from Delta to Cape Girardeau within six months in order to meet a Dec. 31, 1880, deadline.

The rail line was constructed to a point about 1,000 feet from Cape Girardeau. But there, they ran out of rails. The contract deadline was fast approaching.

"So, with characteristic vigor, Louis Houck ordered the engine run to the end of the uncompleted track, then ordered his men to tear up the rails laid behind, fixed them in place on the Cape Girardeau end, laid the rails straight into the city," said Houser.

Reportedly, the decrepit, wood-burning engine steamed into Cape Girardeau only three minutes before the contract's midnight deadline.

Over a 25-year period, from 1880 to 1905, Houck was responsible for construction of 500 miles of rail lines.

He built a rail system north from Cape Girardeau to Farmington and Ste. Genevieve, and south from Cape to Morehouse, Parma, Gideon, Kennett and Caru~th~ersville.

Houck was also a prolific writer. He wrote histories of the state, including a two-volume set about Spanish rule in the area that later became Missouri.

Houser said Louis Lorimier "lighted the fires of knowledge with his hand and pen" and "more than any other one man" was responsible for development of Southeast Missouri State University.

"The civilization of today has come through the Louis Houcks of the past," said Houser. "The civilization of the future rests upon the Louis Houcks to come, for in all ages there must be such as he."