Southeast celebrating 25 years of teaching historic preservation

~ The university will recognize the occasion with a walking tour, banquet and other events.

Two Southeast Missouri State University history professors say people thought they were crazy when they talked of creating a historic preservation program at the Cape Girardeau school.

"They looked at you as if you were nuts," recalled retired history professor Dr. Arthur Mattingly, who founded the program along with Dr. Frank Nickell, an associate professor of history at Southeast.

That was 25 years ago. Back then, most people saw worn-out buildings as eyesores to be torn down rather than architectural gems in need of care and attention. But Mattingly and Nickell, who now directs the Center for Regional History at Southeast, said the view of the public as well as city and civic leaders has changed dramatically.

What was once a novel idea has prospered. The program has turned out close to 200 graduates who now work at museums, historic sites and other preservation-related jobs in 30 states.

The program also has helped create a culture of preservation in the Cape Girardeau area and has helped spark building restoration projects in the city's downtown, say those connected with the program.

Faculty, students and alumni of the program will mark the anniversary with several events this weekend, including a walking tour of historic downtown Cape Girardeau this morning, tours of Academic Hall dome this afternoon, a banquet tonight and a visit to the "Mississippi River Tales" floodwall mural Sunday.

Donovan Rypkema, an expert on the economics of historic preservation, will be the featured speaker at the 7 p.m. banquet at the Drury Lodge. He heads Place Economics, a Washington, D.C.-based real estate and economic development consulting firm.

Other than the banquet, the events are free and open to the public.

For Dr. Steven Hoffman, an associate professor of history and coordinator of the historic preservation program at Southeast, the occasion is a time to celebrate the program's success. Of the 23 individual structures in Cape Girardeau on the National Register of Historic Places, 14 have been listed by historic preservation students, faculty and alumni, Hoffman said.

"I think we have had a huge impact on historic preservation and just local history just in the time I have been here," said Hoffman, who has taught preservation students in Cape Girardeau for 11 years. He's served as program coordinator for the past three years.

Historic preservation is getting much more attention than ever in Cape Girardeau, said Terri Foley, a 2002 graduate of the university's preservation program who operates a historic preservation consulting business in Cape Girardeau. "There is an awareness of what the National Register is in town because of the program."

Foley enrolled at Southeast because of its preservation program. "It was the best rounded program, offering classes in archaeology, historic sites, museums, archives and architecture," she said.

Besides the availability of preservation students and graduates, building restorations locally have been sparked by state and federal tax credits that have made preservation financially feasible, Hoffman said.

Students serve on the Cape Girardeau Historic Preservation Commission. They also are involved in the operation of the historic Glenn House and the Cape River Heritage Museum. Students also helped with the preservation of historic documents at Kent Library and the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center.

Historic preservation has helped generate tourism for Cape Girardeau and other Southeast Missouri communities, Hoffman said, because most people learn the history of an area by visiting historic homes, sites and museums.

The preservation program at Southeast began in the 1980-1981 school year. Nickell and Mattingly had to fight to get the state to approve the program, which initially was one of only a few undergraduate historic preservation programs in the nation. "We said we needed to get history faculty outside of the classroom," recalled Nickell.

It also was an opportunity for history-loving students to pursue careers that didn't involve teaching history in a classroom, Nickell and Mattingly said. "We had people transfer to be in the historic preservation program," Nickell said.

Early on, students helped reconstruct a pre-Civil War house. Originally near Sikeston, the log house was dismantled and moved to the university farm, where the reassembly began in 1983.

Bill Lee worked on the project as a student at Southeast. He was in his late 30s when he enrolled at Southeast and became immersed in the historic preservation program, or HP, as students affectionately called it.

The students in the program had missionary zeal when it came to historic preservation and efforts to combat a "throw-away society," Lee said.

Now 62, he's retired from a career as a house mover and living in Arnold, Mo.

Lee plans to pursue a doctorate and hopes one day to manage a historical village.

Nickell still talks to Lee and other former students. "The people who came out of that first group were so passionate about doing this," Nickell said.

At one time, the program drew students from 17 states.

The program, he said, made history fun and demonstrated the need to preserve historic buildings.

HP students gathered in a campus house that served as the regional history center and housed faculty offices. It was home to those students, Nickell said.

"They just hung out there. They talked history. We had two cats. We had students sleeping on the couch," he said. "It was just a dynamic place."

As the first coordinator of the program, Mattingly insisted that students gain experience through internships at museums and historic sites.

He found internships for students at museums and historic sites as far away as Massachusetts and Montana. He personally checked on the progress of his students, spending his own money to travel to the work sites.

Dr. Richard Betterly took over the program from Mattingly. Dr. Bonnie Stepenoff directed the program from 1995 until August 2003.

It continues to attract committed students today. It's a legacy Mattingly takes pride in.

"These kids are going to go out there like missionaries and work for preservation," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123

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National Register list

A list of buildings on the National Register of Historic Places whose recognition was aided by students, faculty and alumni of Southeast Missouri State University's historic preservation program.

* Judith Ann Crow House, 323 Themis St., built 1821, national register 1997

* Huhn-Harrison House, 340 S. Lorimier St., built 1906, national register 2002

* Frederick Pott House, 83 Themis St., built ca. 1885, national register 1999

* August Shivelbine House, 303 S. Spanish St., built ca. 1890, national register 1999

* Robert Felix Wichterich House, 300 Good Hope St., built 1906, national register 1999

* Marquette Hotel, 338 Broadway, built 1928, national register 2002

* H&H Building, 400 Broadway, built 1908, national register 2003

* B'Nai Israel Synagogue, 126 S. Main St., built 1937, national register 2004

* The Wood Building, 1-3 S. Frederick St. and 605-607 Independence St., built 1908, national register 2003

* Southeast Missourian, 301 Broadway, built 1925, national register 2005

* Esquire Theater, 824 Broadway, built 1947, national register 2005

* Kage School, 3110 Kage Road, built 1880, national register 2005

* Old Lorimier Cemetery, 500 N. Fountain St., established 1808, national register 2005

* William Henry and Lilla Luce Harrison House, 313 Themis St., built 1897, national register 2005

SOURCE: Historic preservation consultant Terri Foley