LETTERS: HELP SAVE THE SEMINARY

To the editor:

I am writing this letter in support of the efforts of the good people in Cape Girardeau who are fighting to preserve the former St. Vincent's College from condemnation and, ultimately, destruction.

My support for this effort does not stem from the fact that I am Catholic and wish to preserve these structures as religious icons. Rather, my interest lies in the preservation of a historic treasure.

Let me give you a little background of my historic preservation interest. It began when I was employed by the Southeast Missourian as an assistant to the newspaper's librarian, Judith Ann Crow. Her love of history, especially Cape Girardeau history, was contagious. She taught me that preservation of newspapers -- the images and stories they contain -- was preservation of the history of the community. Likewise, saving a historic building from destruction is preserving a town's history, its identity.

And she told me of the demolition of a Cape Girardeau landmark that, to this day, cuts to the heart those who care about the city's past.

It was called the Ellis-Wathen-Ranney House, and it stood at 501 N. Main St. directly under Old Lorimier Cemetery. The circa 1838 house was impressive. Built of sandstone blocks quarried by slaves from the bluff behind the house, it was two stories tall with pillared, double-front porticoes and a grand view of the Mississippi River. It was built by noted architect Edwin Branch Deane, the same man who built the historic Glenn House, now on the National Register of Historic Places. He built the Ranney House for Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Ellis as a wedding gift to their daughter, Maria Ellis, and Ignatius R. Wathen. In later years, the house was acquired by Judge and Mrs. R.S. Ranney. It was the social center for Cape Girardeau for many years.

So unique and striking was this home that the American Institute of Architects recommended that it be preserved by the federal government as early as 1933.

But this story doesn't have a happy, fairy-tale ending. After being carved up into apartments during the housing shortage that followed World War II, it was later allowed to deteriorate and was finally abandoned. Because of its beauty and historic significance, however, sporadic attempts were made through the years to acquire the home for use as a museum or to otherwise preserve it. In each case, a lack of funds stymied preservation efforts. At last, it was purchase by a St. Louis man who had a dream of using the land for commercial development. In December 1958 workers began to tear the house down. Ironically, his dream never materialized, and to this day the property sits bare, stripped of its majestic structure.

History has a way of repeating itself, and there is a very good possibility that the same fate could await St. Vincent's seminary. Unlike the Ranney House, however, St. Vincent's has a lot going for it. While the Ranney House was structurally unsound and in a bad state of repair, the old college has never been allowed to deteriorate. Its walls are as strong today as when the first foundation was laid in 1843.

The people of Cape Girardeau wanted desperately to save the Ranney House in the 1950s, and I believe that the majority of residents here would like the seminary preserved as a museum and cultural center. The Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation, which is purchasing the seminary, is in need of the moral and financial help of Cape Girardeans now. Please, offer what assistance you can to the foundation at P.O. Box 34 before we are forced to watch a bulldozer raze another piece of Cape Girardeau's past and future.

SHARON K. SANDERS, Librarian

Cape Girardeau