SEMINARY HAS RICH HISTORY

St. Vincent's Seminary, formerly known as St. Vincent's College, opened in 1843.

It operated as a college until 1910, educating most of the Catholic clergy in the West during that period.

From 1910 until 1979 the edifice served as a seminary preparing high school boys for the priesthood. When the seminary closed, the building was used for meetings and religious retreats.

The 75-room building and nearly 28-acre site had been for sale for nearly six years at an asking price of $1.135 million.

Events in the seminary's history:

-- 1843, construction of St. Vincent's College is completed.

-- 1849, a boat carrying 1,500 barrels of gunpowder explodes on the river, shattering windows and cracking plaster in the college. A south wing was added.

-- 1850, a tornado lifts the roof off the seminary's main building, killing the gardener.

-- 1871, a new west wing gives the seminary more dormitory space, a chapel and a lecture room.

-- 1910, the college becomes a seminary.

-- 1979, the seminary's final graduating class numbers 12.

-- 1989, the seminary is put up for sale by the Provincial Administration of the Vincentian Fathers of St. Louis.

-- 1989, the city expresses an interest in buying the seminary as a park or nutrition center for the elderly. A city council committee estimates the cost of renovating the seminary at $165,000 to $2.5 million.

-- 1990, the city walks away from proposals to buy the seminary and decides to make Lorimier Street the downtown exit off the new Mississippi River Bridge, extending the street through the seminary property. The owners contend the decision makes a sale more difficult and reduces the property's value.

-- 1991, the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation forms with Barbara Rust as president.

-- 1992, the foundation announces plans for a multi-million-dollar project that would convert the seminary into a museum and civil war interpretive center.

-- 1993, the foundation seeks part of the city's tourism tax receipts to buy the seminary. The city chooses to build a sports complex instead.

-- 1993, the city forms a task force to explore ways to help the foundation buy the seminary.

-- 1993, the foundation makes at least two offers to buy the seminary. Both are turned down.

-- 1993, Lady Luck Gaming Corp., a company seeking the operator license for a Cape Girardeau riverboat, takes an option on the seminary property.

-- February 1994, the Boyd Gaming Corp. pledges to donate $500,000 to the foundation if Boyd is selected as Cape Girardeau's riverboat gambling operator.

-- February 1994, Lady Luck Gaming Corp. announces an offer to renovate the seminary and to provide $25,000 per year to maintain a museum on the grounds.

-- March 1994, Boyd Gaming is picked to operate a gambling riverboat on the Mississippi in Cape Girardeau. The development is projected at $51.2 million.

-- October 1994, state highway department pays Vincentian Fathers $256,00 for seven-acre right of way to new Mississippi River Bridge.

-- January 1995, Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation signs agreement to purchase seminary for $700,000.