RED HOUSE GROUNDBREAKING SET FOR FALL

Ground will be broken in September to begin construction of a cabin similar to the one Cape Girardeau founder Don Louis Lorimier and his family occupied in 1803 when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark stopped here on their way to explore the West.

The Red House is to be built on city land northeast of Old St. Vincent's Church. The 100-by-50-foot site on the east side of Aquamsi Street halfway between Old St. Vincent's Church and Temple B'Nai Israel has been marked off with pink stakes and paint.

Construction of the building is one of three projects being planned by the Cape Girardeau Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commission to commemorate the explorers' westward journey to the Pacific Ocean through uncharted territory.

"You can compare it to when we landed on the moon," says commission chairwoman Jane Randol Jackson. "We knew it was out there. ... It was a leap into the unknown."

Another project planned is an archaeological dig directly east of the church on ground the Red House is believed to have occupied before an 1850 tornado destroyed it. The Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese has given permission for a professional archaeologist to conduct the dig.

The third project will be a re-enactment of Lewis and Clark's arrival here. Descendants of members of the Corps of Discovery and of people who lived in the Cape Girardeau District at the time are being invited to participate. The district extended to Apple Creek on the north, Tywappity Bottom (Commerce, Mo.) on the south and had no westward boundary.

Census information for 1803 is available at the Cape Girardeau County Archives Web site, www.showme.net/CapeCounty/archive/index.htm.

Others who might not be a descendant are invited to portray anyone known to be living in the district at the time.

Will be a city museum

Under the auspices of the City of Cape Girardeau, the commission has applied for two grants to help build the Red House and pay for the dig. The commission is seeking a $70,000 federal transportation grant for the Red House, which when built will become a city museum. Plans are for the Convention and Visitors Bureau to conduct tours.

Jackson's sister, Sikeston, Mo., artist Margaret Randol Dement, has provided a rendering of the new Red House. Steve Strom, who has experience with building a log cabin, and architect Ron Grojean are concluding the final details of the house's design.

The 40-by-20-foot house will have two porches and two fireplaces. It will not be heated or cooled. Electricity will be used only for exhibits.

The foundation will be poured after the groundbreaking, but Strom said construction of the actual building won't begin until spring. He said anybody familiar with woodworking, brick laying or pouring cement is invited to participate in the construction project. Common labor also is needed.

"This will be equivalent to a Habitat for Humanity house but in a style of a late 1700s," he said.

Construction is expected to be complete by the end of next summer.

"We think it's a thing that amateurs guided by people that know what they're doing will be able to do just fine," Strom said.

The other grant request of $15,000 from the Missouri Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commission would help bankroll the archaeological search for artifacts.

Donated materials

A number of companies and individuals are donating materials and services to the project, including Delta Concrete, Missouri Dry Dock, Kiefner Brothers, Jim Goggin Excavating and Mark Nussbaum. Mrs. and Mrs. Albert Walther of Fruitland, Mo., have donated a two-story log house that will be dismantled so the logs can be used to construct the Red House. Bert and Mary Ann Kellerman are donating more logs.

Other donations have come from Lonestar Industries, the Jackson Progressive Homemakers, Mississippi County Historical Society, Cape Girardeau County Historical Society, Cape Girardeau County Genealogical Society, Mr. and Mrs. Christopher S. Tilley with a matching grant from the Gannett Corp., and Jane Randol Jackson.

The SEMO Homebuilders Association gave $7,500 to be used to build the house's two fireplaces and chimneys.

Jackson and Jackson, Mo., history teacher Linda Nash recently attended a meeting of the state Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commission in Jefferson City, Mo. They learned of plans by the National Park Service to organize a Corps of Discovery II and to create a traveling classroom in three tractor trailers and a satellite truck that will follow the Lewis & Clark trail from inception at Monticello to the Pacific Ocean. Each day, the Corps will duplicate the progress in the Lewis & Clark diary, which includes a four-page description of the stop in Cape Girardeau.

The satellite truck will provide information about the progress for an in Internet site.

A reenactment group from St. Charles, Mo., also is going to duplicate the Lewis & Clark journey. The boats landed in Cape Girardeau on Nov. 23, 1803.

In addition, the Missouri Historical Society is preparing a 6,000-square-foot exhibition of Lewis & Clark artifacts collected from around the world. The traveling exhibition will start in St. Louis. Smaller traveling exhibitions also are planned. Jackson said the local commission will try to get one.

For information about participating in any of the projects or donating, phone Jackson at 651-0028 nights or 204-2331 days. She is the director of the Cape Girardeau County Archive.