Workers to clear out debris, begin repairs on Cape Girardeau's Reynolds House this week

The Reynolds House, a historic home in Cape Girardeau, will soon get a face lift.

Contractors will be starting stabilization work on the house at 623 N. Main St. sometime this week, said Bill Port, building and grounds chairman for the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau.

The workers will clear out debris from the interior of the house and smokehouse, repair floor joists in the basement, remove guttering, replace the flooring on the first floor, tuck-point the foundation to shore up the structure and repair the chimney on the north side of the building, said Donna Grantham, the association's president. The roof on the house and smokehouse will also be replaced, she said.

She said an anonymous donor stepped forward and offered to pay up to $50,000 for the cost of stabilizing the home.

"The contractor doesn't anticipate it being that much, but we just don't know until they get into it," she said.

Port said he hopes the work will be completed within three to four weeks.

The historical association has owned the Reynolds House since 1982, when the home was put on the National Register of Historic Places.

At 4 p.m. Feb. 12, a task force of historical society, city and Convention and Visitor Bureau officials will meet to decide determine what the house's use will be.

Among the items that will be discussed are what type of funding is available and staffing requirements, Grantham said.

"No one's done anything with it for 30 years," Port said. "We need to see what makes sense."

Port added that Cape Girardeau doesn't need another museum-type historic house, because the Glenn House and others are already available for tours.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245