Cape's last segregated black schoolhouse to be razed

Endangered, indeed.

The owners of the old Jefferson School, which was named to the state's list of most endangered historic places in June, say that the 107-year-old building will be torn down next week.

Historic preservationists decried the decision Wednesday, saying that the bulldozers will be erasing an important link to the city's history.

The building housed the last segregated school for black students in Cape Girardeau before the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954.

"You take away that building and you take away an important piece of Cape's history," said Teri Foley, a historic preservation consultant who prepared the endangered list application.

The old Jefferson School building at 731 Jefferson Ave. in Cape Girardeau has made the list of Missouri's 10 most endangered historic places. (Kristin Eberts)

City inspectors had tagged the building as dangerous and began condemnation proceedings in July, a month after the building made Missouri Preservation's most endangered list. The group described the designation then as a "panic button" for somebody to do something to save it.

An inspection report on file with the city listed the building as dilapidated, and building inspector Stephen Williams said they had received complaints about the building's condition in recent months.

The report says the building needs a new roof -- it has a large hole in it -- and describes the wiring, foundation, porches and plumbing as substandard.

The owners, Guy and Rene Tomasino, had been notified in July that the building was either going to have to be repaired or demolished, Williams said. The Tomasinos, who also own buildings in downtown Cape Girardeau, have moved to Florida and could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

No buyers

Real estate agent Jane Clark, who had been trying to sell the old school, said she received an email from her clients this week informing her that the building would be torn down next week.

"They didn't want to do it," Clark said. "But they have no buyers."

The building at 731 Jefferson Ave. had been for sale for months with a listing price of $69,400. Interested parties had contacted Clark previously, she said, but a selling price could not be negotiated.

When Clark learned of the condemnation, she tried to contact those parties, whom she declined to name, but she never heard back from them.

But Foley called the building's demise a failure on the part of the city, the property owners and the Historic Preservation Commission.

"The term I would use is demolition by neglect," she said. "That's when a property owner intentionally allows a property to fall into deterioration."

The Tomasinos knew the building was in bad shape when they bought it, she said, and made no attempt to rehab it. Those who buy such buildings, especially those with historical significance, should have a plan to make improvements or not buy them at all, Foley said. The asking price was also too high for such a problematic building, she said.

The city's Historic Preservation Commission also should have done something before now, Foley said. But commission chairman Scott House said there was nothing the commission could have done to save the building.

The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but that doesn't protect it from demolition, House said. The building is not a declared local landmark, he said, because owners have to apply for such a status, which was never done by the Tomasinos.

If it were a local landmark, the commission would have to approve demolition, he said. But without it, their hands were tied, House said.

"It's a shame in this climate at this time that it's not a more viable structure," he said. "You hate to lose any kind of historic structure."

The old Jefferson School was built in 1904 as an elementary school and served as the only school in Cape Girardeau for black students from 1953 to 1955. That happened after another school serving the city's entire black student population, John Cobb School, was destroyed by fire.

'Buildings tell a story'

Once the building is gone, Foley said, all that will be there will be an empty space. It's hard to capture people's imagination, she said, by pointing to a blank spot where something used to be.

"You learn about a community's history through its buildings because buildings tell a story," Foley said. "What story does an empty lot tell?"

She pointed out that condemnation doesn't have to be a building's death knell. The Marquette Hotel on Broadway, for example, was condemned before it was bought and transformed into a viable building with a historic past.

"The Marquette was in really bad shape and got a second chance," she said. "Unfortunately, old Jefferson School is not going to get that second chance."

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

731 Jefferson Ave., Cape Girardeau, MO