TWO HOUSES CONSIDERED FOR LOCAL LANDMARK STATUS

A 156-year-old house once occupied by a daughter of city founder Don Louis Lorimier and an abode designed by Sears, Roebuck and Company are the latest candidates for local landmark designation by the City of Cape Girardeau.

If their applications are approved by the City Council, they would increase the number of local historic landmarks to 17 five years after the register was initiated.

The application for the circa 1842 Steinbeck-Brock House at 9 N. Fountain St. will be considered by the City Council at its meeting Monday night. It already has been approved by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission and its Historic Preservation Commission.

The house is owned by Lee Ragland.

The house is old and had historically important owners -- Daniel Steinbeck and his wife Agatha, a Lorimier daughter -- but it's significant because of its design. Many of the city's German immigrants brought a taste for the utilitarian from the old country and built houses in the Plain German Cottage style.

At least two German cottages that are not designated local landmarks are in danger of being lost, said Brian Driscoll, chairman of the city's Historic Preservation Commission.

The owner must request local landmark designation.

Whether to grant local landmark status to the Freeman House at 24 N. Middle will be considered by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday. The city's Historic Preservation Commission already has given its blessing.

The 1911 house is owned by Gary and Patsy Robert.

Sears houses are noteworthy because they filled a national need for well-built, inexpensive and modern housing during the first half of the 20th century. The company offered 450 different designs, from small houses to mansions.

The building material for a standard Sears house could be shipped in two railroad boxcars.

The Freeman House was built in a period when the city was growing rapidly and represents a time when the residents began to import more materials and resources, Driscoll said.

Two other Sears houses sit next to the Freeman House, which retains more of its original integrity than the others.

For the purpose of local landmark designation, houses are named for their original owners. A sign in the yard of the house at 9 N. Fountain proclaims it the Finley Lee House, but the Historic Preservation Commission determined that the original owner was either a Steinbeck or Uriah Brock, Cape Girardeau's Revolutionary War veteran.

Driscoll said the Historic Preservation Commission is awaiting word from the Department of Natural Resources about whether to approve a grant that would enable the city to study the creation of an historic district.