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() (, pronounced ) (colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city located in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties in Southeast Missouri in the United States. It is located approximately south of St. Louis. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city's population was 35,349. A 2007 estimate, however, showed the population to be 37,525. A booming college town, it is the home of Southeast Missouri State University and the largest city in southeast Missouri. Although it is the largest city in Cape Girardeau County, the county seat is Jackson.
The Cape Girardeau-Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area embraces Alexander County, Illinois, Bollinger County, Missouri and Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.
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 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 1762, granted Louis Lorimier, a French-Canadian, the right of establishing a trading post. His grant gave him extensive 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.
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. Today, Cape Girardeau is home to numerous Civil War sites and memorials such as:
Reflecting the area's rich appreciation of history, numerous murals create a beautiful backdrop to some of the city's most charming areas. The largest, and most dramatic of these, is the Mississippi River Tales Mural, located on the city's downtown floodwall. Covering nearly , this mural spans the length of the downtown shopping district and features 24 panels that tell the tales of Cape Girardeau and the mighty Mississippi River. Behind the floodwall lies the Riverfront Park of Cape Girardeau Missouri, where riverboats dock and visitors can view the lazy Mississippi River.
The city is also known to some as "The City of Roses" because of a nine-mile (14 km) stretch of highway that was once lined with dozens of rose bushes. Although there used to be many prominent rose gardens around the community, few of these gardens persist today. 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." , named in honor of 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 wide. It was demolished after the completion of the Bill Emerson Bridge.