Two historic Cape Girardeau sites considered for National Register

JJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Main-Spanish Commercial Historic District, along Main and Spanish streets in Cape Girardeau, and the Old Appleton Bridge are two of 15 sites being considered for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation will review the nominees at 9 a.m. Nov. 14 during its quarterly meeting in Jefferson City.

Terri Foley, a Cape Girardeau-based historic preservationist and consultant, said she, Southeast Missouri State University history professor Steven J. Hoffman and student Morgan Lake co-wrote the Main-Spanish district application. Two of Hoffmans’ students wrote the bridge application.

The Main-Spanish street district "represents Cape Girardeau’s commercial history extremely well, and how it continued to change with world events," Foley said.

Another block of Main Street, between Themis and Broadway is already on the National Register.

Foley and Lake will attend the Nov. 14 hearing and make a presentation on the Main-Spanish Commercial Historic District. Lake helped prepared the Ponder House application for the National Register last year, which was approved.

The Old Appleton Bridge in Old Appleton connects Cape Girardeau and Perry counties over Apple Creek. Constructed in 1879, the bridge replaced a low water ford on the Old Kingshighway and later carried

Highway 25. The 161-foot bridge consists of two Pratt pony truss approach spans, and a 103-foot pin connected Pratt through truss. Although one of the most common bridge types constructed in Missouri between 1870 and 1910, a large number of the iron Pratt truss bridges have been replaced, The Old Appleton Bridge is an example of an increasingly rare property type, according to Terri Foley, a historic preservation specialist.

The bridge was nearly destroyed when swept off its piers during a flood in 1982. Through the dedication of the town of Old Appleton and others, the bridge was meticulously restored and rededicated for pedestrian traffic in 2006.

The bridge application was a class project for Hoffman’s students.

"That’s a really a community coming together and pulling for one of their historic resources and saving it," Foley said. "The mayor and whole community out there really should be commended on their efforts on saving that bridge. That’s a fantastic project."

The downtown Cape Girardeau district is comprised of 27 historic commercial buildings constructed between 1880 and around 1960. This period, considered a commercial "Golden Era," was a time of expansion, from a few businesses clustered near the Mississippi River to a large and prosperous commercial district spread over several city blocks. The Main-Spanish Commercial Historic District contained a variety of shops, but might be best known for such chains as the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. grocery known as A&P; Woolworths and a J.C. Penney department store.

Approximately 500 historic resources are represented amid 15 nominations and one historic context document.

In addition to nominations to the National Register of Historic Places, the council will receive status reports on programs provided by the Department of Natural Resources’ State Historic Preservation Office and discuss other business, including Missouri’s five-year statewide preservation plan.

The Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. in the La Charrette conference room of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Lewis and Clark State Office Building, 1101 Riverside Drive, Jefferson City. For details, call the State Historic Preservation Office at 573-751-7858 or toll free at 800-334-6946.

Peg McNichol, pmcnichol@semissourian.com contributed to this report.