Commission's Legacy Awards go to Red House, downtown murals

Cape Girardeau's Red House Interpretive Center and downtown murals have been honored with Legacy Awards from the Missouri Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission.

The awards recognize projects that keep alive the legacy of Lewis and Clark's journey.

"It is very prestigious," said Jane Randol Jackson, who chairs the Red House museum.

"We didn't apply for it. They saw what we were doing and they said, 'We want you to receive these awards,'" she said.

The award is the second significant recognition given the Red House within the past year.

In April 2005, the National Park Service listed the Red House as a certified site along the Lewis and Clark trail.

The Red House is open for tours from March to December. Since opening in March, over 1,000 people have visited the downtown museum.

"My goal this year is 3,000 visitors," Jackson said.

The Red House, which opened in November 2003, is a replica of Cape Girardeau founder Louis Lorimier's home and store.

In addition to the Red House, the Lewis and Clark commission singled out two murals on the floodwall: The mural behind the Red House and the downtown mural illustrating historic events in Cape Girardeau.

Missouri's Lewis and Clark Commission has handed out more than 40 Legacy Awards since November 2004.