History
The city is named after Jean Baptiste de Girardot, who established a temporary trading post in the area around 1733; he was a French soldier stationed at Kaskaskia, Illinois, 1704-1720. The 'Cape' in the city name was a rock promontory overlooking the Mississippi River, later destroyed by railroad construction. As early as 1765, a bend in the Mississippi River about 60 miles (97 km) south of the French village of Ste. Genevieve had been referred to as Cape Girardot or Girardeau. The settlement there dates from 1793 when the Spanish government, which had secured Louisiana in 1764, granted Louis Lorimier, a French-Canadian, the right to establish a trading post, which gave him trading privileges and a large tract of land surrounding his post. Lorimier was made commandant of the district and prospered from the returns on his land sales and trade with indigenous peoples such as the Ozark Bluff Dwellers and the Mississippian.
The town of Cape Girardeau was incorporated in 1808, prior to Missouri statehood, and was reincorporated as a city in 1843. The advent of the steamboat in 1835 led it to become the biggest port on the Mississippi River between Saint Louis and Memphis. It was established on January 4, 1793.
The Civil War Battle of Cape Girardeau took place April 26, 1863. The Union and Confederate armies collided in a fierce, four-hour artillery barrage on this day in which 23 Union and 30 Confederate soldiers were killed.
The Old Federal Courthouse located at Broadway and Fountain Streets, built in the late 1940s, was the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case, United States v. Carmack, 329 U.S. 230 (1946), in which the Court upheld the federal government's authority under the Condemnation Act of 1888 to seize land owned by a state or locality. In December 2003, a new four-lane cable-stay bridge crossing the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau was opened. Its official name is "The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge.", honoring former U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson (R-Mo.) who led the fight in Congress to appropriate federal funding for the bridge's construction. The two towers of the bridge reach a height of approximately 91 meters. The "Old Bridge" was completed in September 1928 to replace a ferry and was only 20 feet (6.1 m) wide. It was demolished after the completion of the Bill Emerson Bridge.
On May 21, 1949 a tornado touched down and ripped through Cape Giradeau, cutting a swath 200 yards wide, pulverizing 233 homes, and killing 23 persons.
The City of Cape Girardeau was recognized in January 2008 by First Lady Laura Bush as a Preserve America Community.
Read more about this topic: Cape Girardeau, Missouri
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