From the Morgue: Preparing for a new Lorimier School

My column last week discussed the closing of Lorimier School for elementary classes in 1975, as well as a general review of the history of public schools in Cape Girardeau.

While researching that article, I came across several other stories and photographs detailing the 1937 school’s history, as well as the structure it succeeded.

The original, 1871-72 school served Cape Girardeau until 1928, when it was shuttered by the school board because it was deemed “unsafe, a menace to the lives of children and unsanitary.” The brick building stood for another seven years before it was torn down.

Students pose in front of Old Lorimier School in this undated photograph. Submitted by Katherine Cochran. Southeast Missourian archive

Published Aug. 30, 1928, in the Southeast Missourian:

Lorimier School building to be abandoned; erected in 1871, was first one in Cape

The Lorimier School building, the first public school plant in Cape Girardeau, is to be abandoned after 57 years of continuous service.

The Board of Education, at a special meeting Wednesday, decided to abandon the old building for school purposes, and to move its equipment to the Broadway School.

All pupils, who last year attended the Lorimier School or who are in the district now served by it, will be transferred to the Broadway School where it is practicable, Supt. J.A. Whiteford said. Less than 200 children will be affected by the change, however, since last year only four grades were taught at this school.

Considered unsafe

The building will be abandoned because it is considered unsafe, a menace to the lives of children and unsanitary, the board decided. To place the building in proper condition for use would entail the expenditure of several thousand dollars, the board was told by experienced men, who made an investigation at the request of the board.

A representative of The Missourian, who in company with Albert M. Spradling, president of the board, inspected the building today, found:

That the southwest corner of the study hall is sinking, and has shifted its position by several inches.

That large cracks in the brick work are apparent on all sides of the building, especially on the south side.

That the floors quiver with the least motion, and that a man can rock the entire room just by his weight.

In bad condition

The basement of the building, in which are located comfort facilities for the children (bathrooms), is damp and unsanitary, and poorly ventilated. The steps from the first to second floor are … steep and dangerous, it was stated.

It was said that an investigation showed that the roof leaks in a number of places, and the whole interior is badly in need of redecorating. Plastering has fallen in a number of rooms.

The Broadway School was not used last year following the completion of the new Franklin School in the west end, but it was said that with minor repairs it can be placed into use. Only the first four grades will be taught there unless conditions make it necessary to provide more.

First school building

Lorimier School was first known as the Cape Girardeau Public School and was built in 1871 and has been used continuously since that time. To this new building was moved the school system of this city which had formerly been housed in the old Presbyterian church.

Besides having held the elementary grades throughout the years, the beginning of the local high school and also the present Teachers College were found at Lorimier School. The latter came first, with its curricula scarcely equal to that of a modern high school, and the old Normal held its first several years sessions in the Lorimier School while its first building on the present location was being built by the state.

Later, when a public high school system was introduced into Cape Girardeau, its classes were held in the upper floors of the Lorimier School, until the present Central High School building was completed.

Old Lorimier School as it appeared in the early 1920s.Southeast Missourian archive

Published May 28, 1935, in the Southeast Missourian:

Plan to razed Old Lorimier School plant

Razing of the Old Lorimier School building on Independence Street, if the work can be approved as a FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Administration) project, was ordered by the Board of Education at a meeting Monday night.

In view of this decision, the board ordered all families now using the building as temporary living quarters to vacate it.

It was also voted not to permit the use of the building for a vegetable cannery to be set up by the relief organization.

Looking to construction of a new school building there in the future, the board also decided to move to have the grounds graded and landscaped.

It was the idea of the board in seeking to have the premises reduced to an attractive vacant lot to get it in line for construction of a school building soon. During the discussion, four members, Walter Oberheide, H.A. Lang, E.L. McClintock and John Kraft, expressed themselves as believing patrons want a school built there to relieve crowded conditions at other schools.

New school plan

While the matter of building a new school, possible through a bond issue and government loan or grant, was not discussed in detail, Oberheide said a school taking care of six or eight grades might be the best type of structure to consider.

It was the consensus that the old school should be gotten out of the way so if circumstances set up making it feasible to build a school there would be no delay.

Two FERA projects are to be asked for, one for taking the building down and (to build) a shed to house the salvaged lumber, and one to have the ground graded.

During the informal discussion, Mr. Smith said it had been proposed to him that a new school might be located on property on South Spanish Street where there formerly was a (St. Vincent’s) convent. He said he did not know whether more space would be available there than at the Lorimier site.

Opposition to cannery

Mr. Smith and other members said opposition has come up on the proposal that the cannery be placed in the Lorimier property. Those desiring to locate the cannery had talked with Mr. Lang, he said, and he reported he had told them he would refer the matter to the full board. Other members said they had information residents of that part of the city would vigorously fight placing such a plant there.

As to vacating the structure as a “dormitory,” it was decided all those living there with the exception of a caretaker, are to be asked to move out. It was said some eight or 10 families have moved there, mostly without any pretense of authority. One family includes seven children.

It was said the people making the abandoned school their home have “chipped in” and have electric light service, but virtually nothing that makes for sanitation. A caretaker has been permitted to live in the school, watching some old desks and other equipment stored in the building

Robert Wilson, truant officer, was given authority to have the families move as soon as possible.

The application was made through Charles L. Blanton of Sikeston, district Works Progress Administration director, for funding to tear down the old building, store salvaged materials and level the property: “The plan calls for approximately $21,000 in labor for the job. Specifications that had formerly been drafted were changed and nearly 20,000 cubic yards of dirt is to be shifted in leveling off the property… The (school) board decided to appropriate $3,000, which will be used mainly to pay truck hire in connection with the work. Trucks will be used to haul the dirt and around 90 men are to be worked at a time… Teams, too, likely will be used, with plows and small earth slips.”

Approval of the application, along with projects to improve Main Street in Cape Girardeau and make repairs to the county courthouse in Jackson, came in November 1935: “The Lorimier School job is one of the larger ones approved, and is to cost $19,248. Of this sum the government is to supply $17,772 and the Board of Education, as sponsor, $1,476. On the school project J. Morton Thompson and H.H. Hinton will be the WPA foremen and as supervisors for the Board of Education F.J. Courleux and C.W. Stevens will be employed. Carl Williams is to be the timekeeper.”

Published Nov. 26, 1935, in the Southeast Missourian:

Razing of Lorimier School is started

After considerable delay, work was started today on the WPA-Board of Education project to remove abandoned Lorimier School and to grade and landscape the grounds in preparation for a new school which the board proposes to construct in the future.

Seventy-five men were put to work, and will, within the coming four months, make the site over into one well-suited for a modern school location. Some were started on the interior of the building, taking down blackboards, door frames and the like, and others hauled away some ancient desks to store them elsewhere. Some were started taking down trees and others to removing junked concrete blocks.

The project calls for lopping off the big mound and leveling out the entire triangular space. Several dozen large and small trees are to be cleared away.

A drive is to be built, more than a block in length, from Merriwether Street, at an angle in keeping with the direction of the railroad tracks there.

Published Dec. 2, 1935, in the Southeast Missourian:

Construction of past noted as old school building is razed

WPA workmen razing Old Lorimier School are finding some massive stone, brick and cement construction and some fine lumber that is nearly all yellow poplar. The building was erected in 1871.

The outside walls are 36 inches thick and the inside walls 30 inches. The lower part of the main walls, as may be seen in the basement, are made of stone, the higher portions of the high walls being brick.

Except some finishing wood, the timber is poplar and is in nearly perfect condition. Most of the floors were of hard maple and these, too, were pretty well preserved.

The poplar timbers include joists beneath the first floor, most of which are 20 feet long. These are unusually large as well as being long, measuring 2 by 14 inches. These and other good lumber are being cleared of nails and stored for future use by the Board of Education.

The windows have been taken out and some of the roof has been removed. Some families had lived in the building and the last of these moved out a few days ago. Part of the force of men employed there today was removing stumps and brush and shoveling dirt. The huge mound south of the present building is to be sliced off and the dirt put on the lower portions of the grounds.

This image was taken after Old Lorimier School was razed, probably in 1936. The view is from the south part of the site, looking northeast. At right is Eastview, constructed in 1882 for George Boardman Clark.Southeast Missourian archive

It’s hard to imagine now how Old Lorimier appeared in its day, because that site changed so drastically after the building was razed, and old photographs show only the school, not its surroundings.

A short item published in the March 6, 1936, Southeast Missourian notes that workers were taking down a 4-foot-tall retaining wall that paralleled Independence Street on the north side of the site. That means the school towered over its surroundings on a bank at least 4 feet above the street

WPA workers lowered the property, using mule- and horse-drawn scrapers and plows and shovels. The application for the work estimated 20,000 cubic yards of earth would have to be moved to lower the ground and create the terraces still in existence.

The work of cleaning up the site, leveling and shaping the grounds, etc., was finished in the spring of 1936. One of the last things done was the unearthing of a cement foundation for the old school’s fire escape. It was 3 feet thick, shaped like a doughnut, and measured 7 feet across. It was broken apart and hauled away as rubble.