Best River View in Cape

Cape has entered The Ugly Season. I’ve been living in Florida too long. Sure, we have torrential rains almost every day during the wet season, but they start and stop in about 15 minutes. Your side of the street could be getting pounded, but your neighbor across the street is perfectly dry. Florida rain knows its place and stays in it.

I woke up Thursday morning looking out the window at something that was between rain, mist and fog. The temperature was well above freezing, but I wasn’t as I ran around town taking care of some errands. It was like that when I woke up; it was like that when the sun went down. It’s probably going to look like that until about May.

330 N. Lorimier

One of my stops took me over to see Laurie Everett, Wife Lila’s niece, and proprietor of Annie Laurie’s Antiques. She and some other folks in the shop INSISTED that I had to go up a few blocks to an estate sale at 330 N. Lorimier.

After the emotional tailspin I had last weekend at a home auction, I wasn’t sure I was ready to hop back on that pony. Besides, it was cold and rainy and they said I’d have to park and walk a fair distance. The thing that sold me, though, was Laurie insisting the house “had the best view of the Mississippi River of anywhere in Cape.”

She was right.

First private pool in Cape

Cash box custodians Heather Meyer and Melanie Wood filled me in on some of the house’s history. It was built in the “19-teens” by the W. H. Harrison, the Harrison part of the H & H Building, one of Cape’s early tallest structures.

The Harrison family owned the whole block and built what was thought to be the first swimming pool in Cape Girardeau on a terrace below that white fence. Below THAT was a grass tennis court. The pool, another man said, needs some work, but was filled as recently as 1-1/2 years ago.

The tennis court “was a bit of a jungle,” but it’s been cleared up now.

Dr. Gibson came next

Dr. Gibson and his wife were the next owners. They passed it down to their son, Jim Gibson, a lawyer, and his wife Nancy. When Jim died, Nancy decided to move to a smaller place.

The estate sale will continue through Saturday, November 5. Here’s a link describing some of the items for sale. I don’t know how long the link will be valid.

Servants had the best view

The photo at the top of the page was taken from a second floor window. The servants lived on the third floor. They had a smaller window, but an even better view. The door to that area was closed off, so I couldn’t see for myself.

The house appears to be well-maintained. I’ve been in so many depressing and falling-down buildings of late that it felt good to be in one that had been taken care of.

330 N. Lorimier Photo Gallery

Here’s a selection of photos showing the house and the items for sale. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

22 Replies to “Best River View in Cape”

  1. Having just arrived in Arizona, I thought I would read my e-mails BEFORE GOING TO AN ESTATE SALE. I enjoy estate sales, picking up “smalls” and items with history. I often wonder about items that must have been important to someone at sometime, like a child’s doll or family pictures. What happened that these things can be for sale now? Not everybody collects and it is just junk to be turned into cash. Once in a while you go to a sale and the people conducting the make sure you know the history of the item and the story surrounding it’s sale-that is awesome!
    To the pictures at hand-another “homerun”, I wish I could be at the sale to browse around!
    Your comment about the weather-we left Missouri at 55 degrees ahead of the cold front, stopped in Oklahoma City after the front, where it was 35 degrees and arrived in Phoenix where it was 80 degrees!

  2. Just last month Doug and I stopped at that house to look at the view. Ken, do you know if the sale organizers are offering a half price time?

    1. I asked what they would do with the stuff after Saturday and was told that they will probably have an auction.

      To be honest, I thought their prices were high. I commented about that and was told that they thought they were pricing stuff at about half what it was worth. If that’s the case, I need to raid Mother’s attic. I could sell off some of my old toys and move up to a better grade of cat food.

  3. Ken, Just beautiful pictures ! I didn’t know about that house, it’s history was interesting and I wish I could go to that sale !

  4. This hill top area is very cool! My cousin Liz Wilhelm owned the old overlook house in that same area for years. The ranch house that over looks Lorimor Cemetary on the north side of the hill.
    They have really cleaned up the yard…it was a real jungle. At one time my wife and I were thinking about moving to Cape and looked at homes in this hill top area. The yard was a jungle and we liked it but the owners at that time were not too eager to sell. The other big house to the south of this home was for sale, but at 2006 pricing and big square one on top of the hill over looking main street was tied up by the bank and sold undercover….so Liza and I came to our senses and moved to Florida. A cold front just moved thru Dunedin and it is 77 degrees now…I think we did the right thing.

  5. I think I swam in that pool if that is the same house that ended up being the Sheet’s house. They also had a very cool underground tunnel to a bomb shelter, I think.

    1. Thanks. It was quite a sale. Very professional. Also, pretty high. When I first walked into the room with the great view, I noticed a beer can on the windowsill. “They must have been working late setting up and got a little sloppy at the end,” I thought.

      Then I looked closer. The can had a tag and a price of two bucks.

      It must be the estate sale tag version of the old military adage: “If it moves, salute it; if it doesn’t move, pick it up; and if you can’t pick it up, paint it.”

  6. I went to a good time party at that house during my one year of college at SEMO. That was the first and last time I drove home drunk!

  7. The leader of my Brownie troop from Washington School lived on Lorimer St. overlooking the river. The house looks familiar, but I can’t remember much more than she had a Weimaraner named Falstaff or Budweiser, something like that. Excellent photos, Ken. Wish I could have gone to that sale.

  8. I bet your niece, Laruie, was in hog heaven w/all those antiques! What did she think of the prices?
    Beautiful views and gorgeous woodwork throughout the house! Excellent condition for its age. Great job again, Ken! Thanks!

  9. I thought I recognized the view out that window and pool. i was there visiting Jim a fellow ham radio operator.

  10. Susan, my wife, worked with Mrs. Edna (Sue) Gibson for 7 or 8 years, c. 1968–1976, as a school nurse in the elementary public schools–Jefferson, Alma Schrader, Franklin and Hawthorn. Mrs. Gibson worked many years as school nurse in Central and Junior High. Susan visited with Mrs. Gibson at her home. It was as you described it — a great view. Susan seems to remember that the reason Mrs. Gibson went to work (a nurse) was after her husband died of a heart attack either before or after hitting a tree when he was leaving the house, down a rather steep driveway.

  11. Hah, I was just there yesterday. Bought an old Polaroid camera.

    What a cool house… It’s an amazing trip through history in there. I had no idea that there was such a view from there before. It’s amazing that the swimming pool is still in that good condition after all those years; must have been built to last!

    1. In 1959, I bought a used Weston Master II light meter for $15. There was one just like it on the same table where your Polaroid was sitting. Still $15. Nice to see some things still hold their value. (Of course $15 was a lot more money back in 1959 when I was making 3 bucks a week carrying The Missourian.)

  12. Dr. Gibson was removed my tosils at about age 5. I can still remember the visits to his office and the stay in old Southeast hospital. He was a friend of my father, adentist in Chaffee, Mo. Ken, Dr. Gibsons office was located at the northeast corner of Pacific and Themis, directly across the street from your alma mater. It’s the beautiful white victorian three story,with black wrought iron fence.

  13. It seems to have been overlooked that Jim Gibson was a Central classmate, class of ’61. He was quite a guy, and was always current with the latest political goings-on in Cape. He was sometimes called “Hoot,” after the old-time cowboy. And he did say that the pool at that house was the first one between St. Louis and Memphis. Nancy has done an incredible amount of work on both house and grounds since Jim passed away around a year ago, and until she trimmed back the trees, that view of the river had been curtained off by a wall of green leaves.

  14. love the pictures and the history, there is one thing i miss and that is the river, az, doesn’t have rivers in the southern part of the state, so the pictures are very refreshing. there would have been any toy banks or iron toys if i had been there. thanks again

  15. Ken, Thank you for the fabulous coverage of my home and the estate sale. Hopefully the right buyer for the property will come along and your publicity will surely have helped. Thanks, Nancy Gibson

    1. Thank you for the opportunity to see your home. It was a hidden (to me) treasure. I had written about the stone wall on Park Street and had referenced the foundations that your home overlooks, but wasn’t aware of the treasure at 330 N. Lorimier.

      I hope you read the many comments that appeared at the bottom of the story. A lot of folks remember you, your husband and the house fondly.

      (If you go back to the page, press Ctrl-F5 to bring up any new comments since your last visit.)

      The house is beautifully maintained and has one of the best views in Cape. I’m sure it’ll make someone very happy.

  16. What a wonderful walk down memory lane. So many really pleasant memories of happy times. What a privilege to have lived at 330 North Lorimier for about 7/8 years. God bless the Gibsons!

  17. Thank you, Ken, for the great coverage on the home, the property, and wondeful history behind it all. We appreciate the added sale coverage as well. It was a labor of love being able to assist Mrs. Gibson. So many amazing things all under one roof is a rarity to say the least.

    I wish I would have had the chance to speak to you personally about the sale, the home, and why we were doing it for her. With more than 3 months of research and set-up, I hope we got it right. Making sure we took care of the family was priority one. And given the number of items that flew out the doors, I think the prices were right on; especially with all of them being negotiable from day one.

    Thanks again for coming. Hopefully I’ll get to meet you in the future.

    Ps- that beer can was from the 1950s! 🙂

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