Southeast demolishes handball court to prepare for new campus buildings

Southeast Missouri State University demolished the handball court located on the River Campus to make way for a new academic and residence hall that is set to be built by the fall of 2014. Historical enthusiasts and groups like Missouri Preservation had been working to preserve the handball court, which is listed as a contributing structure to St. Vincent Academy on the National Register of Historic Places.

The handball court was believed to be the oldest one standing in the United States and likely the first handball court west of the Mississippi. There is another court in San Francisco that was built in 1850, but the court that was demolished by the River Campus could have been as old as 1843.

Bill Hart, a field representative for Missouri Preservation, said that the reason the university was able to demolish the handball court was that no federal money was used in the plans for the new building. Missouri Preservation is a non profit historic preservation advocacy group based in Columbia, Mo.

"It seems that in this case Southeast Missouri State University carefully avoided using any kind of federal education money to tear down what was a resource that was contributing to a national register historic district at the River Campus," Hart said. "At Missouri Preservation, we had been in communication with somebody who was actually nominating the handball court for the list of Most Endangered Historic Places In Missouri. That application process had just started and [would have] ended on April 17."

Hart said that if federal funding was used on a property, a section 106 review must be done to evaluate the historical significance of the property under historic preservation law before anything can be done to the property.

"A lot of people thinking that having a property on the national register of historic places automatically ensures its preservation," Hart said, "Actually it protects the property rights of the owner to do what they'd like with their building. Section 106 of historical preservation law only protects properties from the federal government."

Vice president of Finance and Administration Kathy Mangels said that, according to a contractor, the court was in disrepair and would cost too much to revamp and was too unsound to move to another location.

Historic Preservation graduate student Jessica Reisenbichler said that there are many grants available to fix historical structures like the handball court, if the university had just looked for more options.

Southeast Missouri State University is known for having one of eleven historic preservation programs that is endorsed by the Council on Preservation Education, yet this is not the first instance in which they have razed historically significant properties in the name of development.

The Henry S. Moore House was owned by a professor who worked at Southeast for 54 years. In 2005, the property was razed to make a parking lot. Werner's Market was built in 1935 on the corner of Henderson and Broadway and was donated to Southeast by the owner. The market was subsequently demolished in 1999 to make a parking lot. More recently, Willie's Bakery at 1215 Broadway and Howards' Athletic Goods were razed in 2009 to build parking lots. Washington Elementary School was also demolished by the university in 2009.

"I understand why they do it," Reisenbichler said. "Obviously the issue on campus is parking. They feel like knocking down buildings and making a parking lot is the best way to go, but in doing that they are also taking away from the character of the campus. We have one of the top- rated historical preservation programs. What does that say about a university that is knocking down historic structures and putting parking lots there or new buildings? They say the greatest building is one that is already built."

Though Southeast has demolished many historical buildings, it is currently renovating the infrastructure of the historically significant Academic Hall, which is set to be finished on July 31. The project was funded by bonds and Southeast's website said they wanted to preserve the infrastructure to "honor the history" of the building. The university has preserved Carnahan Hall, which is the oldest building on campus.

Hart said lately Southeast has focused more on development, and protecting historic properties it owns has been put on the back burner. According to Hart, if a non-governmental historic group like Preserve Missouri developed in Cape Girardeau, there would be a better chance to save historical properties in danger of being razed for the university's development because groups like Cape Girardeau Historic Commission and Old Town Cape are often bound by other governmental considerations.

"Some people think we should go chain ourselves to a building and go that route, but that's really not going to do much good," Reisenbichler said. "The biggest issue is education, people need to understand what it means to save historic structures and why its important. They just see it as an obstacle that's in their way."