Centennial celebration of Missouri flag to be next week in Cape

The 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Missouri state flag, which was designed in Cape Girardeau, will be showcased in a three-day Missouri Flag Centennial Celebration scheduled for March 21 through March 23.

"The best we can tell, we're the only town in the state that will be observing the flag's centennial," said U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. "But it's fitting that Cape Girardeau be the place where the origins of our state flag is remembered."

Limbaugh also serves as president of the State Historical Society of Missouri, co-sponsor of the celebration.

The Oliver-Leming House, 740 North Street Tuesday, March 12, in Cape Girardeau. The house is where Missouri state flag was designed in 1913 by Marie Watkins Oliver, wife of state Senator R.B. Oliver. The home is now owned by Drs. Bert and Mary Ann Kellerman and will be featured in a three-day Missouri Flag Centennial Celebration scheduled for March 21 through March 23. (Adam Vogler)

"This will be an event that somebody with a sense of local and regional history wouldn't want to miss," he said.

The flag was designed in 1913 by Marie Watkins Oliver, wife of state Sen. R.B. Oliver, at their home at 740 North St. The home, now called the Oliver-Leming House, is owned by Drs. Bert and Mary Ann Kellerman and will be featured in the celebration.

"We're close to getting things ready," said Mary Ann Kellerman, who, with her husband, is a co-sponsor of the celebration. "I've been in interior design for 35 years, but this has been a big project."

Kellerman was referring to the renovations that have been undertaken at the Oliver-Leming House since 2010. The house will offer guided tours as part of the celebration and Kellerman said the house, once ready, will look as it did in 1913.

"Absolutely," she said. "We're getting it together."

The celebration is scheduled to begin March 21 with a meeting of the State Historical Society board of trustees at Drury Suites. The 55th annual Missouri Conference on History, hosted by the Southeast Missouri State University History Department, also will be that day at the Drury Lodge. The conference will include a special focus on the adoption of the state flag, and U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, a board member of the state historical society, will be the principal speaker at the conference dinner.

The Flag Centennial Program is scheduled for 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Friday at the Oliver-Leming House. The program is open to the public and will feature speeches and presentations by special guests, including Blunt, Southeast Missouri State University President Kenneth Dobbins, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and Penny Oliver-Chapell, great-granddaughter of Marie Watkins Oliver. The Regional History Fair will be from noon to 5 p.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church.

The celebration will conclude March 23 with free guided tours of the Oliver-Leming House.

Jenny Knoderer, a volunteer planner for the tours, is particularly excited to be a part of the celebration.

"My grandmother is Lois Leming and she lives in Cape Girardeau," Knoderer said. "I'm expecting other family members to be here for the program."

Knoderer is proud of Cape Girardeau's legacy with the creation of the state flag.

"I'm fascinated by local history," she said. "I'm glad that we're going to be recognized."

The Missouri Conference on History and the Center for Regional History at Southeast also are co-sponsors of the celebration.

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent addresses:

740 North Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

104 S. Vantage Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

3303 Campster Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.