What to See in Cape Girardeau - Top Sights and Attractions

Cable-stayed bridge in Alexander County, Illinois. The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge connecting Missouri's Route 34 and Route 74 with Illinois Route 146 across the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau, Missouri and East Cape Girardeau, Illinois.

It was built just south of its predecessor, the Cape Girardeau Bridge, which was completed in 1928 and demolished in 2004. Prior to its destruction, it was documented for the Library of Congress Historic American Engineering Record Survey number HAER MO-84.

The bridge is named after Bill Emerson, a Missouri politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 until his death in 1996. Planning for the four-lane structure began in June 1987, and construction began in late 1996. Several factors have been blamed for the bridge's many delays in planning and construction, including Illinois' reluctance to participate in the project, as well as issues with the bedrock of the river (this resulted in the hiring of a new contractor).

The bridge was featured in the 2014 David Fincher film Gone Girl.^[3]

Lutheran church in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Hanover Lutheran Church is a Lutheran congregation in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, that is a member of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. The congregation's original organization came about in 1846 as a result of the heavy German immigration to Missouri in the 19th century. The church's name, "Hanover", was chosen to reflect the place of origin of the majority of its members, since many of the Germans who had settled northwest of the town of Cape Girardeau had immigrated from Hanover, Germany.

Hanover's original log-cabin church building served the congregation from 1846 until 1887, when the second church building was constructed on land donated by church member Henry Krueger. This second church building was in active use from the time of its construction in 1887 until the current building was constructed in 1969. The building is still standing today in its original location, alongside the schoolhouse building which was constructed in 1923. On September 14, 1987, both buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places as Historic Hanover Lutheran Church and School.

The 579-member congregation, currently pastored by Rev. Rod Benkendorf, is often considered to be the mother Church of several Lutheran congregations in Cape Girardeau County, which include Eisleben Lutheran Church in Scott City; Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau; Trinity Lutheran Church in Egypt Mills; and St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson. The church is currently located on the northern limits of the city on gently sloping ground on Perryville Road.^[5]

The Mississippi River Tales is a mural containing 24 panels covering nearly 18,000 square feet of the 15-foot -high downtown floodwall in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It illustrates the history of the area beginning with the Native Americans who inhabited the area between 900 and 1200. Each panel tells a story: Louis Lorimier platting the city in 1793, the transfer of Upper Louisiana from France to the United States in 1804, Missouri gaining statehood in 1821, the coming of the railroad in 1880, the Big Freeze of 1918-19 and the completion of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, among many others. The paintings are in a style similar to that of painter Thomas Hart Benton. The mural was painted by Chicago artist Thomas Melvin, in collaboration with several local artists, and was dedicated at a public ceremony on July 7, 2005.^[6]

War memorial in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The Confederate War Memorial is a memorial to Confederate soldiers located behind the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It was erected by the Cape Girardeau United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1931. It was moved to its current location in 1995. Beside it is a fountain and statue erected in 1911 by the Women's Relief Corps. This latter Union monument is dedicated "n memory of the soldiers of the Civil War."

Weighing about 12.5 short tons (11.3 t), or 25,000 pounds (11,000 kg), the memorial depicts the Confederate Battle Flag, the initials "C.S.A." (Confederate States of America), and the years 1861–1865.

On October 10, 2011, the Confederate monument was vandalized with spray paint.

In the summer of 2020 during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, Cape Girardeau's mayor Bob Fox asked the Cape Girardeau Historic Preservation Commission for advice on what to do with the memorial, as many people had submitted petitions for and against the structure's removal. On June 23, 2020, the Commission unanimously voted to remove and store the monument. On July 6, 2020, the Cape Girardeau City Council unanimously voted to remove the memorial and place it in storage until a suitable place could be found for its relocation. Some city councilors suggested Old Lorimier Cemetery as a possibility, as up to 1200 Confederate and Union soldiers are buried there.^[8]

Cemetery in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The Old Lorimier Cemetery in Cape Girardeau, Missouri was established between 1806 and 1808 by Louis Lorimier. The cemetery is located at 500 North Fountain Street overlooking the Mississippi River. There are believed to be more than 6,500 graves in the cemetery, most of them unmarked. A sidewalk serves as a north – south dividing line in the cemetery. It is said that Catholics are buried on the south and Protestants are buried on the north. The east slope is believed to be the burial grounds of African-American persons. It has been recorded that as many as 1,200 soldiers from the Civil War were buried there. The grave marker for the wife of Louis Lorimier says "The Noblest Matron of the Shawnee race."

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.^[11]

Broadway Commercial Historic District is a national historic district located at Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. The district encompasses 35 contributing buildings and 1 contributing structure in a predominantly commercial section of Cape Girardeau. It developed between about 1868 and 1965, and includes representative examples of Queen Anne, Mission Revival, and Art Deco style architecture. Located in the district is the separately listed Julius Vasterling Building, the Esquire Theater, and the Broadway Theater. Other notable buildings include the Star Service Station, Phil C. Haman Drug Store, Haman's Shoe Store, Finney's Drug Store, Broadway Prescription Shop, Kroger Super Market, Kroger Super Market Parking Lot, Pete Koch's Sinclair Service Station, Bell Telephone Company, American Legion Building, and Vandeven Mercantile.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.^[12]