St. Mary of the Annunciation

Editor's note: The following remarks were made by Dr. Steven J. Hoffman, professor in the Department of History at Southeast Missouri State, at the Old Town Cape annual meeting on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011. Hoffman is on the board of OTC.

By Dr. Steven J. Hoffman

Old Town Cape established the Preservation of Heritage Award to bring special recognition to an organization, private company, individual or public agency whose contributions demonstrate extraordinary achievements in preserving the heritage of the Old Town Cape community. It is important to note that the Preservation of Heritage Award is not an annual award. In fact, it has only been presented four times before: in 2004 for the Marquette Towers project, in 2006 for the Southeast Missourian project, in 2008 for the River Campus Project, and last year to the Schultz Senior Apartments.

---

"I tell my preservation classes there are three great destroyers of neighborhoods: universities, hospitals and churches. These types of institutions are either growing or they are dying. And, as they grow, they often think they need to tear down the surrounding community to expand their facilities or to provide parking -- as if they are islands unto themselves.

But with this year's award we celebrate something entirely different: a church that is definitely alive and growing -- and expanding -- but doing so in a way that enhances rather than destroys its surrounding community.

It all started over 140 years ago when the German community of Cape Girardeau broke ground to build St. Mary of the Annunciation in 1868. Within six years the parish established a parochial school. According to the St. Mary website, in 1891 'the familiar bells of St. Mary's were installed, the church was redecorated and heat was added. ... A new brick grade school -- the main part of the present [school] building -- was constructed in 1912... In 1937, the front addition facing Sprigg Street was added to the St. Mary Grade School.' The stained glass windows were added to the church in 1954. 'In 1955, a new convent (the current youth center) was constructed and the current rectory was built in 1957. A gymnasium, parish hall and kindergarten were added. ... in 1978. In 1984, the steeple of the church was restored to its original height.' Over the years, facilities were upgraded and various new buildings built. St. Mary's has always been an active and vibrant church and school.

But St. Mary's is not just any church with a school. In 1956, when the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau was established, St. Mary's became co-cathedral with St. Agnes Cathedral in Springfield -- turning the church built by Cape Girardeau's Germans into the Bishop's Church. In 1977, when some would have abandoned our beautiful Old St. Vincent's Church, St. Mary's stepped in to save it and it became a part of the Cathedral Parish and was named a Chapel of Ease.

Fast forward to July 2007. The parish of St. Mary's once again confronted the need to expand -- to grow -- and they faced a choice of how to do it -- destroy the adjacent buildings along Sprigg or expand in such a way that it enhanced, rather than replaced, the neighborhood around it.

With the help of Chiodini Associates, the award-winning architectural firm out of St. Louis, St. Mary's did what they've been doing for 140 years and counting, they made the conscious choice to make their community better.

Instead of tearing down the old school and building new, the 1,045 parish families representing over 2,000 members invested $2.4 million in constructing an addition of about 20,000 square feet that successfully integrates the new with the old. The brick addition harmonizes with the historic church and existing school, not only in its materials, but in its careful attention to detail and proportion. If you take the time to stop and look at it, it is a beautiful thing.

One hundred and forty years after its construction we are still lucky enough to be able to admire the architectural grace and charm of the Cathedral of St. Mary. Because of the work of Chiodini Associates and the parish of St. Mary's, the people of Cape Girardeau will be able to appreciate the grace and charm of the whole campus, including its new school addition, for the next 140 years as well.

For everything that the parish has done over the years, from little things like beautifying the neighborhood with flowers and fountains (thank you, Father Tom), to saving the architectural and spiritual gem of Old St. Vincent's Church, to ensuring it has the room to grow and remain in the neighborhood for generations to come, to building a school addition that serves as a model to all of how to build something new that looks new but that harmonizes and celebrates the old, for all this and more, we are pleased and honored to present Old Town Cape's Preservation of Heritage Award to the Cathedral of St. Mary's of the Annunciation."