TURN-OF-CENTURY BUSINESSES THRIVED DOWNTOWN

BAKERY OPERATED AT BROADWAY AND SPRIGG: Bauer Bros. Bakery was located at the northwest corner of Broadway and Sprigg. Christian J. Bauer came to the U.S. in 1888, and began the bakery with his brothers, Carl and Fred. The business was established in 1898. The business sold in 1944 to the Master Baking Co. of Mount Vernon, Ill. The building was razed in 1978. The site is an empty lot today. (JUDITH CROW COLLECTION)

The year was 1906. The community was a busy one, with more than 12,000 people.

The city had three railroads: Illinois Central, Frisco and Cape Girardeau Railway Co. It had an electric street car system, a modern sewer system under construction, and a Bell telephone system. No less than four steamboat lines made stops at the levee, including the St. Louis, Chester and Cape Girardeau lines.

Situated on the Mississippi River 130 miles south of St. Louis, the community hosted 50 factories, 27 grocery stores, 19 general merchandise stores, 13 churches, 10 hotels, nine restaurants, 23 saloons, two daily newspapers the Republican and the Democrat and a university, State Normal School.

St. Francis Hospital, founded in 1875 by Franciscan Sisters, was at the corner of Sprigg and William.

Cape Girardeau may not be the oldest city in the state, but it is among the oldest. Almost 100 years ago, in 1806, the city was fresh into it second century.

Like many small towns at the turn of the century, the city had wagon makers (five of them), blacksmiths and horseshoers (eight of them), cobblers (five), farm implement dealers (four), and breweries (three). Principal products of the 51 manufacturing firms in the city included flour, stone, brick, lumber, and many other wood products.

One of the leading lumber men in the entire Southeast Missouri area was M.E. Leming, who had sawmill operations in seven places, including Scott, Butler, Wayne and Cape Girardeau counties. Leming's operations turned out as much as 80,000 feet of lumber each day.

Leming, a native of Indiana who moved to Cape Girardeau in 1892, was also president of the Pressed Brick Works, treasurer of the Broadway Mercantile Co., and founder of Leming Hall on State Normal School campus, which he completed at a cost of $45,000.

"The company was the oldest manufacturing firm in the city until we closed operations about two years ago," said Howard Tooke, who was president of the firm from 1956 until it closed. "We sold off all the lumber but still have some of the equipment there."

Tooke said the Mississippi River was responsible for the plant's demise.

"The river put us out of business," said Tooke. "We were in a flood zone, and were flooded on numerous occasions. It just got to the point were we couldn't stand another flood, ending almost 100 years of Leming Lumber."

Tooke said the exact date of the start of the company is not known, but it was between 1892 and 1894.

The Cape Girardeau Brewery was one of three breweries in the city and the largest, with the capacity of producing 175 cases a day. In connection with the brewery was the Cape Girardeau Ice House, which provided ice for the brewery and the city, with a capacity of 40 tons.

The Arcade, at the corner of Main and Themis, and the Broadway Saloon and Bowling Alleys were among the many saloons in Cape Girardeau.

The Broadway was owned by Cape Girardeau native F.W. Oberheide, a stockholder in Cape Brewery. The Arcade was owned by Cape Girardeau native George B. Siemers.

Most businesses in the city were within the boundaries of what is now known as downtown Cape Girardeau Main, Spanish, Middle, Sprigg and Broadway, Themis, Independence, William, Good Hope and Morgan Oak.

One seven-block area of Broadway and two blocks of Main provided the hub of activity. A total of nine saloons, 10 grocery stores and eight general merchandise stores were situated from Water Street to the 700 block of Broadway. The two-block Main Street area was home to seven saloons, five restaurants, four grocery stores and seven general merchandise businesses.

The Good Hope area was another beehive of business activity, housing four saloons, four restaurants, four grocery stores and three general merchandise stores.

More than eight decades later, the business scene has undergone a huge metamorphosis in Cape Girardeau.

The city is still recognized as a regional center with a well-balanced transportation network, including transportation by land, water and air.

Gone are the wagon-making shops, breweries, and cigar-making firms.

The city retains its Main Street and Good Hope business districts, but it has spread westward, with big retail operations now found in Town Plaza Shopping Center, West Park Mall and Cape Girardeau Centre.

Bob Hendrix, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, said more than 125 manufacturing firms can be found in Cape Girardeau today.

"Many of these companies are located where only wilderness areas were in 1906, along Highway 74 and Nash Road Industrial Park south of the city, to the large Procter and Gamble and M and W plants a dozen miles north of the city," Hendrix said.

The city now has seven banks, two savings and loan operations, two television stations and 10 radio stations, and a daily newspaper.

Also in the city are three large medical complexes St. Francis Medical Center, Southeast Missouri Hospital and Doctors' Park which provide employment to more than 2,800 people. The city also has about 80 wholesale and distribution firms, and hundreds of retail outlets, and more than 15 grocery outlets, from small convenience stores to large supermarkets, and a half-dozen or more hardware store operations, including the Meyer Hardware operation still in the 600 block of Good Hope.