river trade steamboats trading posts bridges murals and historic sites
Cape
Girardeau is named after Jean Baptiste de Girardot,
who established a trading post in the area around 1733. As early as 1765, a
bend in the Mississippi River, had been referred to as Cape Girardot or
Girardeau. In 1799, American settlers
founded the first English school west of the Mississippi at a landmark called
Mount Tabor, named by the settlers for the Biblical Mount Tabor.
The River Trade and Steamboats stimulated the Development
of Cape Girardeau
City Landmarks in 1928, a bridge was completed between Missouri and Illinois
replacing ferries to cross the Mississippi River. In 2003, the Old Bridge was
succeeded by a new four-lane cable-stay bridge named the Bill Emerson Memorial
Bridge; the two towers of the bridge reach a height of approximately 91 meters The
Old Federal Courthouse, located at Broadway and Fountain Streets and built in
the late 1940s, The City of Cape Girardeau was recognized in 2008 as a Preserve
America Community for its work in surveying and protecting historic buildings.; it is home to 39 historic
sites and eight historic districts, including the Downtown Commercial District.
The Mississippi River Tales is a mural containing 24
panels covering nearly 18,000 square feet (1,700 m2) of the
15-foot (4.6 m)-high downtown floodwall; they illustrate the local history
beginning with the Native Americans who inhabited the area between 900 and 1200;
each panel tells a story. The paintings are reminiscent of the works by Thomas Hart Benton; they were painted by Chicago artist Thomas Melvin in collaboration with several local artists.