Building a better newspaper

The Southeast Missourian newspaper has rolled off the presses in Cape Girardeau for 100 years. Technological advances have been made in the printing press, and computerized production has replaced hand-set lead type.

But the headquarters of Cape Girardeau's only daily newspaper has remained the same for 79 years.

Housed in a two-story, Spanish-style building at 301 Broadway built by the newspaper's original publishers, the Missourian has long been an architectural landmark in the city. In its Dec. 31, 1924, edition updating construction on the building, the newspaper touted the site as the "fanciest piece of property in Cape Girardeau."

Efforts now are underway to have the building named to the National Register of Historic Places.

The history of the Southeast Missourian began in 1904 when brothers Fred and George Naeter bought a defunct newspaper, The Daily Republican.

They printed their first issue on Oct. 3, 1904. A third brother, Harry, soon joined the operation.

The newspaper's first home was a store room of the old Opera House -- now the Royal N'Orleans restaurant -- on the northwest corner of Broadway and Lorimier Street across the street from the newspaper's current location.

But the press drowned out the voices of the actors during the shows, so the building's owner evicted the newspaper.

On July 22, 1905, the Naeters began operating the daily and its companion, The Weekly Republican, in an old house on the southwest corner of Broadway and Spanish Street.

The new equipment meant the brothers had to hire more help. By October 1906, two years after starting with a three-man operation, the business had been expanded to five printers, a pressman, a press feeder, three bindery girls, a circulation manager, a bookkeeper and nine carrier boys. The circulation climbed from 579 to about 1,600.

While housed in that two-story building, the Naeters replaced their original press and added a Linotype machine. Type until then had been set by hand. The Linotype was the first mechanical typesetter, casting a line of type as a single metal slug.

The newspaper published the first extra edition on April 18, 1906, bringing out news about the San Francisco earthquake.

In 1908, the Naeters constructed a two-story brick building at 225 Broadway. It served until 1925 when the current Missourian building was dedicated at 301 Broadway.

By April 1909, a new press with a 10-horsepower electric motor was up and running at the newspaper. It could print 6,000 copies an hour.

The Naeters were so proud of the press that they located it at the front of the building. A large plate glass window allowed the public to view the operations from the sidewalk.

The building at 225 Broadway was razed in 1975 for expansion of the First Presbyterian Church.

Thomas P. Barnett, a noted St. Louis architect, designed the building at 301 Broadway to commemorate Cape Girardeau's Spanish heritage.

The newspaper was renamed The Cape Girardeau Southeast Missourian on March 1, 1918. The change was made at Harry Naeter's suggestion and went into effect a week after his death. That same year the paper joined the Associated Press wire service, which continues to provide state, national and world news today in the pages of the Southeast Missourian.

Two years later, on Sept. 11, 1925, the building with its distinctive Spanish-style tile roof was dedicated. That same day, the newspaper changed its name to the Southeast Missourian.

The building's ornate Spanish Colonial Revival style is unique in Southeast Missouri, said Melinda Winchester of Jackson, a historic preservation student at Southeast Missouri State University who is helping write the application for National Register status.

"It is a one-of-a-kind building in this area," she said.

The blue and white mosaic tiles and the ornamentation over the front entrances make the structure stand out, she said. "It just really makes the building. It is a very decorative building," she said.

While the inside has been remodeled several times, the outside has kept its original appearance.

The newspaper building has been expanded twice. In 1947, two tile murals -- "The Art of Printing" and "Gathering and Disseminating the News" -- were installed on the Lorimier Street side of the building.

When an addition was built in 1936, two panels in the concrete wall, measuring 8 feet by 10 feet, were left to hold the murals.

For a decade, efforts were made to find a company that could reproduce an oil painting on clay tiles which would withstand freezing and thawing. At last, Mosaic Tile Co. of Zanesville, Ohio, undertook the job. The work took two years. The southern mural depicts "The Art of Printing" and includes: images of the Gutenberg press; Col. Robert Sturdivant, one of Cape Girardeau's first publishers; Louis Houck, the son of a newspaper publisher and a prominent civic leader; Allan Hinchey, former editor of The Daily Republican; and George Naeter.

Titled "The Art of Printing," this tile mural depicts Gutenberg using the first moveable type and printing press to print the Bible in 1450 and includes images of Southeast Missouri railroad entrepreneur Louis Houck and of Allan Hinchey, the newspaper's one-time editor.

In the other mural, editors and reporters gather news from a number of famous visitors to Cape Girardeau. Fred Naeter sits at a table with Evangeline Booth, head of the Salvation Army, and evangelist Billy Sunday. Standing to one side are John Philip Sousa, opera singer Ernestine Schuman Heink and Harry Truman.

This companion mural to "The Art of Printing" depicts some of the famous personages whose visits were covered by the Southeast Missourian.

The Southeast Missourian printed its first color ad on Oct. 12, 1937.

This feature photo on the front page of the July 5, 1984, edition was the first color photograph to appear in the Southeast Missourian. Because of the time and labor required to set up the page and press, spot-news photos weren't printed in color yet.

George Naeter died on Nov. 10, 1956, leaving his brother, Fred, to manage the daily. He did until his death on Sept. 18, 1965. Management then fell to Harry Naeter Jr.

In April 1968, a new 48-page press was installed in a concrete pit that once housed the newspaper's mailroom. The press could print 40,000 papers per hour. Newspapers were fed automatically onto a conveyor that carried the finished product overhead 60 feet into the mailroom for bundling and distribution.

The Missourian printed its last extra on Aug. 9, 1974, when President Nixon resigned.

In January 1977, ownership of the Southeast Missourian shifted from the Naeter family to Thompson Newspapers Inc., based in Des Plaines, Ill.

In 1983, an offset press was installed beside the older press.

When news broke on Saturday, a color photograph appeared in Sunday's edition Oct. 27, 1985. This was the first time the Southeast Missourian published a full-color news photograph.

Gary Rust, publisher of a competing Cape Girardeau newspaper, the Bulletin-Journal, purchased the Southeast Missourian in June 1986. Printing of the daily newspaper transferred to Rust's plant at 500 William St.

The Bulletin-Journal and the Southeast Missourian merged operations on July 10, 1986.

Soon after, the 1968-era press was sold for scrap. The 1983-era press was donated to a newspaper in Romania in 1993.

On June 4, 1990, the Southeast Missourian became a morning newspaper after nearly 86 years as an afternoon publication.

In 2002, the Southeast Missourian purchased a new press and added to its production plant on William Street to house the massive equipment. The improvements cost about $3 million.

By late September 2003, the company had installed a computer-to-plate process.

"What this means is clearer photos, less ink ruboff and better color," Rust Communications co-president Jon Rust said in a Nov. 21, 2003, news story. Rust recently was promoted to publisher of the family-owned newspaper.