Longview AKA the Thilenius House
I ran some aerial photos of the neighborhoods around Capaha Park February 15, 2010, where I asked readers if they could identify the large white house at the bottom of the photo. It had a street or driveway that looked like a question mark leading to and around it. It looked like something I should remember, but I drew a blank.
Sixteen minutes after posting the question, Missourian Photographer Fred Lynch sent me the answer: the mystery house was Longview, also known as the Col. George C. Thilenius House.
You can see the original story and a flood of comments here.
Even though the home is only about two blocks from Cape Central High, is on the second highest hill in the city and has been there since 1870, I had never seen the place.
View from the south
My Mother, who has been just about everywhere there is a where, said she had never been there, either, but knew “about” where it was. Her “about” was good enough. It was at 100 Longview Place, within about two blocks of Central and about two blocks from a house we owned on Themis St. long before Central was even a dream.
Longview Place, is a jog on what, otherwise, would be Whitener St. It’s south of Themis St, west of Keller Ave., east of Sunset Blvd. and north of Independence St.
National Register of Historic Places
Fortunately for the curious, there’s a wealth of information about the property. Want a floor plan of the interior? Want to know about why red tile replaced the original wood shingles in 1926? (Fire.)
Want to know when the house was wired for electricity and received indoor plumbing? (1917.)
The application filed to have the residence listed on the National Register of Historic Places has all of that and more.
It’s available for download here. It’s a huge document that may be too large for folks who don’t have broadband internet connections. If you’re interested in area history, I’d encourage you to snatch it.
Here’s a hint: I kept getting error messages saying the file was damaged when I clicked on it like you would a normal link. That’s probably related to its size. Here’s what worked:
- Right-click over the link above.
- Chose Save Link As and download the file.
- Use Adobe Acrobat to open it.
Wine cellar? Slaves?
Some of the readers mentioned that they had seen or heard of a wine cellar on the property; others wondered if it had any connection to slavery.
Tidbits from the Register document
George C. Thilenius and many other German settlers took a strong pro-Union, anti-slavery position in the days leading up to the Civil War.- He participated in the first Union triumph of the Civil War, saving St. Louis for the Union.
- General U.S. Grant ordered the construction of four forts in Cape Girardeau and put Thilenius in charge of them.
- In 1867, Thilenius paid $1,000 for the 9.56 acre site where Longview sits. Before building his home, he built a three-story brick winery on the site.
- Construction of the house, which is the only one of its kind in Cape Girardeau, began in 1870.
- The remains of the old Thilenius Winery are located on the property to the west of the house. The subterranean cellar portion of the winery is all that remains today, and, except for an entrance on the extreme west end, has been covered over with earth. The upper two brick floors of the winery were demolished in 1964.
- All but 1.4 acres of the original 9.56 acres were sold to a real estate developer in the 1950s.
Longview from the west
The home is owned by the Marge Thompson family, decendant of Col. Thilenius. I’ve been in the home several times. The family has an incredible collection of memorabilia from past times including clothing, books, papers etc. With the home remaining in the same family it was possible to preserve these things. The home has been open at various times for fund raisers. If you have the opportunity to attend a function there, it is well worth it. Marge devoted many hours to the Cape River Heritage Museum and is a wonderful lady
The name “Longview” comes from the view from the home, said to be the highest point in the city.
I did a story about Longview some time ago. Marge Thompson was wonderful, sharing information about her family home and the property. Among the information crdit was given to Col. Thilenius, her great grandfather,for helping establish the normal school(SEMO University)at Cape.
As a child growing up in the 40′s and 50′s in the 1500 block of Themis, all the kids in the Themis neighborhood were aware of, and in awe of, the “old brick wine cellar” which looked very scary. As little girls, we dared not try to get in, but we made up our own stories about what was once housed there and how it was probably haunted!
How wonderful that you have researched this mystery for me and all the Themis street “gang”. Thank you!
Thanks Ken. I grew up in Cape, spent 20 years there and never saw or heard of the house.
Bill,
I think you, me and my mother may be the only folks in Cape who didn’t know it existed.
I thought i had prowled every street and alley in town at one time or another, but I missed this one.
Cool…nice follow up on the first…I wonder if the western opening to the wine cellar is still open??> got a picture?
Terry,
I’ve gotten lazier and more careful in my old age. I didn’t see anyone around to ask, so I stayed on the public right of way to shoot these.
I have pictures from inside the County Jail from the 60s; I’d just as soon NOT update them with pictures from 2010 after I get hauled in for trespassing.
I can remember being inside that house but cannot for the life of me remember why I was there. May have been girl scout troop visiting the home. What I do remember was a very old wind up Victorla. I wish I could find out who lived there during the 50′s and early 60′s. It might jog my memory as to why I was visiting the home. Thanks Ken for the good memories.
On the left side of this house is a 2-story brick colonial. It was built in the 1980s on top of the wine cellar. In the front yard of the newer home built is the entrance to the cellar by the entrance to the driveway.
Thanks for this information about the Longview house. I have lived on WHitener all my life (grew up and currently own a house) and never knew the history of it. Thanks again for your hard work on finding out this information.
Hello,
Just a slight correction to the July 11th entry. The colonial home was not built on top of the wine cellar, but behind it. I am the Great, Great Grand-Daughter of the Col. and spent many a happy and scary moment exploring the old cellar. My 86 year old mother still lives in the home, and she claims she is, “The hysterical old lady, that lives in the historical old house”
Thanks for the clarification.
mother-Laura Dittlinger Eakins, would like to contact owner of home. Relative.
For those who are interested, our mother, Marge Thompson passed away in July of 2011. She was born at Longview and died in the home of her birth after suffering a long battle with cancer. Her passion for preserving Cape’s history and that of her ancestral home has helped provide her family with a rich look into our past, which we hope to continue. Marge had four daughters, Nancy, Trisha, Julia and Lisa. I moved back to Cape Girardeau from Florida right before mom passed to take a job with the City as their Parks and Recreation Director. I am also taking a class in Historic Preservation at the University which lead me to explore the internet and find this posting. I am currently working on a project to expand the information related to Colonel Thilenius’s business endeavors, especially Cape City Bottling Works. The Colonel bottled the first soda/cider/wine as a business in Cape and shipped as far away as California. He also milled quality flour which won a medal at the Worlds Fair. The property surrounding Longview housed not only the wine cellar and outbuildings but was used to grow fruit trees that were harvested and processed for wine/cider and soda. Ella Keller Miller McGowan my grandmother, lived in the house during the early 1900′s through 1972 when she passed away after succumbing to illness while visiting family in Florida. Fred C. McGowan, her second husband, helped establish Sunny Hill Feed and Seed, another business that would be interesting to research all the history of…..I currently live at Longview and will continue working on preserving its history and heritage. Thank you all for any input.
I’m lecturing on Missouri Germans in the Civil War at SEMSU April 11, 2012, and Colonel Thilenius will of course receive prominent mention. Please pass along any additional information you think I should know. I found particularly interesting that he had apparently participated in the capture of Camp Jackson in St. Louis, which I had not known before.
Walter Kamphoefner, Texas A&M University
Looking forward to your lecture, but I don’t think I have any info on the battle of Camp Jackson. Let me contact some of our local Civil War folks to see of they can shed some light.