Endangered Buildings List

Scott Moyers had a story in The Missourian that the Cape commission had released an endangered buildings list. Here are the ones considered most endangered:

  • B’nai Israel Synagogue, 126 S. Main St.
  • Broadway Theater, 805 Broadway
  • Esquire Theater, 824 Broadway
  • Fort D blockhouse, 920 Fort St.
  • Franklin School, 215 N. Louisiana St.
  • Hanover Lutheran School, 2949 Perryville Road
  • Old Jefferson School, 731 Jefferson Ave.
  • Kage School, 3110 Kage Road
  • Lorimier Apartments, 142-148 S. Lorimier St.
  • Sturdivant Bank, 101 N. Main St.

I’ve done stories on almost all of them. Here’s a look back:

Kage School

I imagine the long, cold walk to the outhouse was not fun for this little guy,

Broadway Theater

I spent many a happy hour in the Broadway balcony

  • I was sure that the inside of the old Broadway Theater would be a disaster with the roof falling in and debris all over the place. When I got my first glimpse of the interior, I was transported back to the days of Saturday matinee movies in a grand theater. It’s ragged, but it’s still grand.
  • The basement under the theater was HUGE, but the dressing rooms for the old stage actors were tiny.

Esquire Theater

The Esquire had over a mile of neon lighting when it opened in 1947

Fort D

The building we know as Civil War Fort D didn’t exist until 1937. It was used as a residence in the 1960s.

 101 North Main / Sturdivant Bank

Bank, telephone exchange building, Minnen’s Dress Shop, Cape Wiggery. The old building at 101 North Main Street has been many things and has some interesting connections to other pieces of Southeast Missouri history. Its neighbor, the St. Charles Hotel, home to General Grant in the Civil War, was torn down in 1967.

B’nai Israel Synagogue

The B’nai Israel Synagogue is in an historical triangle that includes the Red House and St. Vincent’s Church.

Jefferson School

Jefferson was a black school in 1953-1955 before the system was integrated.

Franklin School

This part of Franklin School will be torn down when the new building behind it is completed.

 

5 Replies to “Endangered Buildings List”

  1. My grandfather, Benjamin Frankliin Sharp, helped build the Synagogue. Upon completion the workers were invited to the first service there and grandpa went. As a child I was fascinated at this story. The architecture was so “exotic” for Cape and I always thought (whether factual or not) that Christians were not allowed inside. Several years ago, just before the Synagogue was sold, the Young Women group from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took a tour of the building. My daughter was in Young Women at the time and we were part of that group. It turned out that we were the last group to tour the Synagogue while it was still owned by the church. I love it that my grandpa was in the first group and his grandaughter, along with his great-grandaughter, were in the last group. It is an amazing place and it would be a real shame to lose it.

  2. APPRECIATE YOU TIME AND LOVE OF DOING THESE PICTURES. THEY MEAN A LOT TO ME. IWAS BORN AND RAISED IN CAPE. THE PAPERS THAT MY MOTHER SAVED WITH A LOT OF THIS INFO HAS YELLOWED WITH AGE SO BADLY I AM AFRAID TO TRY OPEN THEM UP.

    APPRECIATE WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

  3. My relatives, the Shaltupsky family, were involved with the building of the Synagogue. Do you know what is to become of it? I hope that it will be held in trust for historic sake. Thanks.

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