1908 courthouse in Jackson nearing end of renovations

The Cape Girardeau County commissioners — from left, Charlie Herbst, Clint Tracy, Paul Koeper — visit their future meeting room at the 1908 courthouse under renovation in Jackson. The 116-year-old building, vacant for the last four years, will soon be home to most county offices.

Christopher Borro ~ cborro@semissourian.com

The Cape Girardeau County government will soon have a new home in some very old offices.

Jackson’s Penzel Construction is nearing completion on the county’s historic 1908 courthouse renovation in Jackson. The $7.7 million project, which started in March 2023, is slated for completion in August or September. Once the aged building is completely renovated and furnished with new furniture, it will serve as the workplace for most county offices.

“It’s kind of the same premise as the new courthouse. There’s a lot more room,” Associate Commissioner Charlie Herbst said on a Thursday, June 20, tour of the building.

The courthouse had been vacant since June 2020, when a new courthouse was built a block to the north at 203 N. High St.

Superintendent Mandy Fluegge is overseeing the project for Penzel. She said one of the more difficult aspects of the renovation was ensuring many of the courthouse’s historic details remained unimpeded. The State Historical Society of Missouri is ensuring as many of those details as possible live on when the building takes on a new life of its own.

“The Historical Society is involved, so maintaining as much of the historic aspects as possible is important, which leads you to run into a lot of obstacles on how to make the new construction match the historic (material),” she said.

Though many elements such as the floor, railing and exterior will remain the same, the new layout of the building will be vastly different from when originally designed. In the past, the first floor was exclusively used for the prosecuting attorney’s office. Now, it will be home to offices of the county auditor, Highway Department and treasurer.

The three-member Cape Girardeau County Commission will convene on the second floor. This floor will also host their offices, as well as those of the county clerk, administrative assistant and human resources. The Office of the Public Administrator will be moved to the basement.

A new elevator and handicapped-accessible lift will also be installed.

The existing county administration building at 1 Barton Square will not be abandoned entirely. Herbst said a handful of county offices will remain there.

“We’re planning to move the collector downstairs. The collector, assessor and recorder (of deeds) are all on that same floor,” he said.

That will make it easier for residents who need to visit all three offices at once, Herbst added.

Construction on the 1908 building started in June 1906 and was completed 25 months later at the cost of $79,585.90. Like its successor, it was built to replace an existing courthouse, in this case one built in 1873. It was dedicated Friday, Sept. 25, 1908, as the centerpiece of the inaugural Jackson Homecomers celebration.