Regenhardt family tours Academic Hall

~ More than 50 descendants of the man who built Academic Hall gathered in Cape this weekend.

Relatives of the man who built Academic Hall gathered in Cape Girardeau for a two-day reunion and to take a tour of the building.

More than 50 descendants of Edward Franz Herman Regenhardt came from all over the country, some to learn the history for the first time. Two living grandsons, William Regenhardt and wife Linda of Mount Vernon, Ill., and Joe Regenhardt and wife Mary Alice of Cape Girardeau, attended the reunion.

Dr. Frank Nickell, director of Southeast's Center for Regional History, led the tour.

Edward Regenhardt, born in Cape Girardeau in 1867, owned the construction firm and quarry that built Academic Hall and other buildings at Southeast Missouri State University,

Construction bids for Academic Hall were taken after the Normal School burned, and in September 1903 Regenhardt & Maule Construction's $174,840 bid was accepted. Regenhardt later bought out Maule's interest in the company.

When news reached Jefferson City that the college in Cape Girardeau had burned to the ground, the institution of higher learning, with an enrollment of 500 students, was considered for relocation to Ste. Genevieve or Arcadia Valley because it was not considered prosperous. But Sen. Robert Burett Oliver, a Cape Girardeau County native, secured funding. The building's dome (designed by Jerome Leggs) was considered a symbol of grandness and optimism for the region and the state.

Groups of 12 were taken up a narrow, winding staircase to the dome for a presentation by Nickell. They were encouraged to sign their names in chalk like others who had gone before them.

The 100-year-old poplar beams, 183 in all, support the curved wooden dome. But every stick of wood is considered a fire hazard, so the dome is restricted to special tours and historic preservation students. Wood for its construction is from within 20 miles.

Other activities the group engaged in also centered on regional history, including visiting the floodwall mural of President Taft, pictured with Regenhardt on the left side of the mural. At 6'7," 275 pounds, Regenhardt was referred to by Taft as "the Lighthouse on the Mississippi" because according to the former president he was the only man he'd met who was larger than himself. The Regenhardt family sponsored the mural for their ancestor, who had been friends with former president William Howard Taft and who was appointed a U.S. marshal from 1910 to 1914 by Taft. Regenhardt was also a delegate to the 1908 Republic convention that helped nominate Taft.

In 1909, President Taft took a trip on the Mississippi River. Cape Girardeau was not on the original schedule, but Regenhardt persuaded the president to alter his plans. Taft made a sunrise address on the State Teachers College campus and planted a tree.

cpagano@semissourian.com

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