Continuing the legacy of the Cape County Historical Society

On Aug. 9, 1926, a group of people from around Cape Girardeau County met in the Circuit Court room of the Cape County Courthouse in Jackson to organize the Cape County Historical Society.

Officers were selected and a constitution was adopted and signed by 17 charter members. The president chosen was Sen. Robert Burett Oliver; first vice-president was Allan H. Hinchey; second vice-president, Mrs. Lilly K. Hope, and secretary/treasurer was John J. Putz. At their second meeting on Sept. 27, at the Carnegie Library in Cape Girardeau, 17 more people applied for membership. They included, Professor Robert S. Douglass, Sadie Kent, Mary Kochtitzky, more of the Oliver family, along with Stephen B. Hunter and Mary M. Hunter, to name a few well known people from the area. John J. Putz presented a paper on Joseph McFerron, an early settler to Cape Girardeau County.

Since, identifying old cemeteries and early settlers, famous or not, was a priority, they decided the Oct. 25 meeting would be held at a local cemetery. More sites, mainly cemeteries, were discussed to visit as well as papers to be presented.

The next meeting was scheduled for Nov. 29 at Jackson. At the November meeting, Sen. Oliver read a letter from Floyd Shoemaker, secretary of the Missouri State Historical Society, congratulating the formation of the Cape County Historical Society. Oliver also presented a copy of an article published in the Missouri Historical Review about the creation of the historical society, its constitution and a copy of a judgement in English, signed by Louis Lorimier and dated July 24, 1799, which Oliver claimed to be the first judicial decree in the English language west of the Mississippi River in the Louisiana Territory.

The Cape County Historical Society was off to a good start of collecting documents, enlisting members and holding public meetings with guest speakers to talk about Cape County and Missouri history. By 1928 the Historical Society had decided on bi-monthly meetings. Eventually, they would move to quarterly meetings. They met at various locations at first, rotating between the courthouse in Jackson, the State Teachers College and the Carnegie Library. At their annual banquet in 1958, celebrating their 32nd year, their guest speaker, Floyd Shoemaker, now executive secretary of the State Historical Society of Missouri, stated with 200 members, the society was ranked sixth in the state as well as the oldest continually active county historical society in the state.

The Historical Society would eventually settle on the Jackson Public Library for its meeting place and storage of some of its manuscripts and collections. The Cape County Historical Society has not slowed down on its collection efforts and sharing Cape County history with the public.

In 2014, the historical society sub-contracted with Carla Jordan, owner of CL Jordan Preservation, to be its director. On Aug. 6, 2024, Jordan marked her 10th year as director. A native of Missouri she grew up in Kansas and came to Cape Girardeau in 1996. A graduate of the Historic Preservation Program at Southeast Missouri State University, Jordan brought to the Cape County Historical Society the professionalism of displays, grant writing, coordinating with other agencies, fund-raising, archival training and several other historical management skills to help propel the historical society into its second century of work.

Under Jordan’s leadership the Historical Society opened the History Center in 2015 at 102 S. High St., Jackson. In 2021 they opened a Research Annex just two doors down from the History Center to house all the manuscripts collected by the society over the past 98 years. Manuscripts, like the artifacts, were stored in various locations. Now artifacts are stored at the History Center and manuscripts are at the Research Annex. Public documents are stored at the County Archives.

Part of Jordan’s job description is to recruit docents, and the History Center has approximately 50 active docents and a current membership of 252. The History Center presents cultural programs free to the public. They include guest speakers on a wide range of topics from beekeeping, the county’s Black heritage, folk music, military history and much more.

The Cape County Historical Society continues the legacy of the founding members to collect, preserve and interpret Cape County History.

Dave is a lifelong resident of Southeast Missouri who has always had a strong interest in local history. Recently retired from the Cape Girardeau School District, Dave can spend more time exploring Southeast Missouri’s history.