Sculptor wants to turn rusted trolley rails into downtown artwork

Sculptor Nathan Pierce wants to fashion art from old trolley rails that were a part of downtown Cape Girardeau's history.

The local artist said he came up with the idea after seeing the rusted steel, which construction crews dug up and removed as part of recent Main Street improvements.

"They are rusted and pitted up," he said as he looked over a stack of the bent and cut up rails which have been stockpiled near the downtown floodwall.

But after sanding and cleaning, the trolley rails -- which were buried in concrete and mud for nearly a century -- would be perfect for a sculpture, he said.

"My proposal is to design a historical, public-art monument that will commemorate and preserve the old downtown trolley rail and create a sense of place for Cape Girardeau residents and downtown visitors," Pierce wrote in a plan he shared with Cape Girardeau Mayor Harry Rediger in March.

A rendering of what Nathan Pierce's proposed sculpture made of old trolley rails would look like in downtown Cape Girardeau.Courtesy

Pierce's plan calls for a 6,000-pound sculpture that would tie together six to eight sections of rail, 18 to 20 feet tall, erected upright. It would be lighted from the ground on the interior and exterior with a color-changing, LED lighting system.

He has titled the piece, "Time Tracks."

Pierce has proposed erecting the sculpture on the southeast corner of the Main and Independence streets intersection, insisting it would provide the best lines of sight for the artwork.

Visitors approaching from the north would have the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge as a backdrop, Pierce said.

"There is a sense of beauty and elegance in seeing this historic trolley rail for what it is," he wrote in his proposal.

Nathan Pierce shows the old trolley car rails that were dug up on Main Street in Cape Girardeau.Laura Simon

Pierce said the mayor, who is an advocate for public art, expressed interest in the proposal.

At Rediger's invitation, Pierce presented his proposal this spring to the Tower Club, a group of Cape Girardeau business and civic leaders,

The city's public-art committee also discussed the project, according to Marla Mills, who directs Old Town Cape, the downtown redevelopment organization.

Rediger said, "I think it is a really good idea."

But the plan has not moved forward because no persons or groups have stepped forward to fund it, both Rediger and Mills said.

Pierce has estimated the creation of the sculpture could cost $30,000. He added that doesn't include site preparation.

Rediger said, "To me, it is going to be very difficult to raise $30,000 for that."

While the Cape Girardeau community is "invested" in public sculptures, the mayor said the city does not have funding for such a project.

The City Council in April approved a cost-sharing agreement with Southeast Missouri State University for a sculpture to be created and placed in the Fountain Street roundabout near the River Campus. The city is paying half the cost of the $64,000 project. That sculpture is scheduled to be erected later this summer.

Rediger said the city at some point might be willing to share in the cost of Pierce's proposed sculpture if other groups or persons invest in the project.

If the larger sculpture isn't feasible, Pierce suggested he could fashion smaller rail sculptures that could be erected along the route of the city's new Downtown Trolley bus. The vehicle, which rides on tires, not rails, began traveling downtown streets last week.

Rediger said the idea of creating smaller sculptures from the rails is "a neat thing" but still would depend on funding.

Mills said Pierce's cost estimate did not surprise her. Mills said public art is "just expensive."

She said her organization doesn't have the funds to pay for a permanent sculpture.

"Right now, that money is not there," she said.

Pierce said he is not a student of history, but the rusted rails sparked his interest and prompted him to research the history of streetcars in Cape Girardeau.

Mule-drawn trolleys called "muley cars" operated in downtown, starting about 1893.

In 1905, electric trolley cars began operating in Cape Girardeau, Pierce said.

According to Southeast Missourian records, the trolley system ended in 1934.

Now that the rails have been unearthed, Pierce said he hopes they can be repurposed as a downtown monument to Cape Girardeau's trolley past.

"I know it costs money," he said of his proposed sculpture. But he added that "public art is and should be important for a community."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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