River Heritage Museum eyes vacant annex for new home

The now-vacant Common Pleas Courthouse Annex could become the new home of the Cape River Heritage Museum if the organization�s board of directors has its way.

�We think it would be wonderful,� museum director Margaret Ford said Tuesday.

She said the board has toured the annex.

�We looked at it, and everybody loved it,� Ford said.

The board proposed the relocation last month.

The Common Pleas Courthouse Annex is seen Tuesday near Ivers Square in downtown Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

She said the three-level structure offers more space than the museum�s current location in Cape Girardeau�s one-time police/fire station at the corner of Independence and Frederick streets. The building is still owned by the city as is the annex.

The annex also has central heating and cooling, something the museum�s existing building does not have, Ford said. The second story of the old brick police/fire station, where museum artifacts are stored when not on display, is not heated or cooled, she said. Artifacts can be better preserved if stored in a climate-controlled space, Ford said.

But city officials said Tuesday the future uses of the annex, the Common Pleas Courthouse, current city hall and the now vacant police station on South Sprigg Street have not been determined.

Cape Girardeau County satellite offices recently moved out of the annex and county officials plan to vacate the Common Pleas Courthouse within the next several years, once a new justice center is constructed in Jackson.

The city council in May hired Chiodini Architects of St. Louis to conduct a space-needs study regarding the aging city hall and determine whether it makes sense to relocate city operations to another building or construct a new city hall.

The Common Pleas Courthouse Annex is seen Tuesday across from the Civil War soldier fountain at Ivers Square in downtown Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

City officials said at the time the study could cost $100,000 to $150,000.

City manager Scott Meyer said Tuesday the study should be completed this fall.

�We are still studying possible uses,� Meyer said, adding city officials have not seen a formal request from the museum board.

The consultant will assess the condition of the buildings, including the annex, he said.

Cape Girardeau�s existing city hall was built as an elementary school in 1937. The city government has used it as city hall since 1978, having moved from the historic Common Pleas Courthouse.

Common Pleas Courthouse, an iconic structure overlooking the city�s downtown, was built in 1854. The annex was constructed in the early 1920s as a Carnegie Library.

The satellite offices of the Cape Girardeau County assessor, collector and clerk operated out of the annex for nearly four decades before moving to new offices on Bloomfield Street.

The River Heritage Museum moved into the historic police/fire station on Independence Street in 1981. The brick station was built in the early 1900s.

Ford said the current museum, among other things, houses two 1940s-era fire trucks.

She said the museum would have to decide what to do with the trucks if it moved to the annex. There is no place at the annex to store the trucks, she said.

One suggestion, Ford has heard, is to turn the historic police/fire station into a public-safety museum. Ford said she likes that idea, but that museum officials are focused on the possible use of the annex.

The annex�s downtown location would better serve the history museum, Ford said. It would be a more visible location and more convenient for visitors, she added.

�I just think the museum would fit right in,� she said of the location at Ivers Square, formerly Common Pleas Courthouse Park.

It also would save the annex, she said. �It is a Carnegie Library and it needs to be preserved,� Ford said.

Mayor Bob Fox said city officials are awaiting the consultant�s report before deciding on any future use of the annex and the other buildings.

One possibility, he said, is to tear down the annex. The Common Pleas Courthouse might be a good location for the museum, he added.

�There are a lot of questions that need to be answered,� he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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