List of mayors of Cape Girardeau, Missouri

The city of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, is the most populous city in Missouri's 8th congressional district and southeastern Missouri which is sometimes known as the Missouri Bootheel.

List of Mayors

Cape Girardeau mayors since 1843, when the city was incorporated.^[1][2][3]

Mayor	Took office	Left office	Additional information
E. Mason	1843	1844
George Washington Juden, Sr. (1805-1844)	1844	1844	First elected mayor.[4]
E. Mason	1844[4]	1846	2nd term (He previously served as mayor, 1843-1844.)
Thomas Johnston (1804-after 1870)[5]	1846	1849	Some sources spell his name as Johnson.
Dr. Patrick Henry Davis (1803-1852)	1849	1851	He was the publisher of the Southern Advocate and State Journal, originally an 1819 newspaper which was the second-oldest Missouri newspaper outside of St. Louis.[2]
Alfred T. Lacey (c.1821-1878)[6]	1851	1852	During the Civil War, this bank president moved his family to Memphis where he remained after the war.[7]
Thomas Baldwin	1852	1853
John C. Watson (1796-1866)[8]	1853	1854	Captain Watson was a Mississippi River boat pilot for 24 years.[8]
Amasa Alton (1810-1855)	1854	1855
C. T. Gale	1855	1857
John Ivers, Jr. (1824-1885)	1857	1860
John Albert	1860	1862	Cape Girardeau County sheriff, 1870-1878[9]
George H. Cramer (1820-1892)[10]	1862	1867	Son of one of the county's first German settlers. In June 1861, Major Cramer organized and led a battalion of four Union companies. In 1867, he became a member of Cape Girardeau's first school board. He was the father of Wilson Cramer,[11] Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney, 1873-1874.[12]
George C. Thilenius (1829-1910)	1867	1873
Edward D. Englemann	1873	1877
Leon Joseph Albert (1840-1912)[13]	1877	1879	He spoke French and German and built the Alfred T. Lacy, named after a previous mayor this was the only steamboat ever built at Cape Girardeau.[13] Author Mark Twain served as a co-pilot on the Alfred T. Lacy.[14] Albert Hall (1905-1960), the first dormitory on Southeast Missouri State University, was named after him.[15][16]
George H. Cramer (1820-1892)[10]	1879	1886	2nd term (He previously served as mayor, 1862-1867.)
Leon Joseph Albert (1840-1912)	1886	1891	2nd term (He previously served as mayor, 1877-1879.)
Harlan P. Pieronnet (1852-1912)[17]	1891	1895
William H. Coerver (1848-1940)[18]	1895	1901	He was a druggist for 50 years. His Broadway Street house was later converted into Schulz Surgical Hospital until the opening of Southeast Missouri Hospital in 1928.[19]
Dr. John D. Porterfield	1901	1903
Rodney Gayso Whitelaw (1859-1922)	1903	1905	He may be related to former congressman and Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney Robert Henry Whitelaw (1854-1937).[12]
William H. Coerver (1848-1940)[8]	1905	1907	2nd term (He previously served as mayor, 1895-1901.)
Dr. Warren C. Patton (1858-1928)[20]	1907	1909
Merit E. Leming (1862-1938)	1909	1911	After serving on a dormitory association, Leming Hall (1905-1972),[21] the first women's dormitory on Southeast Missouri State University, was named after him.[16]
Frederick A. Kage (1848-1932)[22]	1911	1917	Cape Girardeau County sheriff, 1882-1886[9] He served in city and county government for 63 years.[22]
William Hirsch (1866-1939)[23]	1917	1918	Former county judge, pioneer merchant, and banker.[24]
Henry Harl Haas (1878-1935)	1918	1922	First mayor under the municipal form of government. He resigned to become postmaster for 12 years. In 1934, he was defeated in a mayor election by 325 votes.[25]
James Alexander Barks (1879-1936)	1922	1930
Edward L. Drum (1875-1955)	1930	1936	Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney, 1937[12]
Charles G. Wilson	1936	1938
Edward L. Drum (1875-1955)	1938	1940	2nd term (He previously served as mayor, 1930-1936.)
W. Hinkle Statler (1909-1962)[26]	1940	1942	Elected at the age of 30, he became the city's youngest mayor at that time.
Raymond E. Beckman (1896-1971)[27]	1942[28]	1948
Walter H. "Doc" Ford (1910-1968)	1948	1952	He was given the nickname "Doc" as his father was a Gordonville doctor.[29]
Manning P. Greer	1952	1954
Narvol A. Randol (1916-1999)[30]	1954	1956	He was a lieutenant colonel and battalion commander at the Battle of Bulge. In 1971, he retired as a brigadier general in the Missouri National Guard.[30]
Walter H. "Doc" Ford (1910-1968)	1956	1964	2nd term (He previously served as mayor, 1948-1952.)
Waddy Elmo Davis (1903-1992)	1964	1965
Charles A. Hood	1965	1966	In 1965, he purchased the historic St. Charles Hotel[31] where guests reportedly had included Ulysses S. Grant, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens.[32]
J. Ronald Fischer	1966	1967	Cape Girardeau city manager, 1988-1995.[33]
James Hugh Logan	1967	1968	First executive director of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation, 1977-85,[34] and president of the hospital's board of directors, 1986-1989.[35]
A. Robert Price	1968	1969
Ivan L. Irvin (1934-2008)[36]	1969	1970	He served on the Missouri Real Estate Commission, 1987 to 1992.[36]
Howard C. Tooke (1918-2006)	1970	1978
Paul W. Stehr	1978	1981	He worked in the insurance business and served as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps.[37] Acting city manager, 1981.[33]
Howard C. Tooke (1918-2006)[38]	1981	1986	2nd term (He previously served as mayor, 1970-1978.)
Francis E. "Gene" Rhodes (1926-2014)	1986	1994	In 1963, he founded Rhodes Oil Companies which runs Rhodes 101 Stop gas stations and convenience stores.[39] He served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific Theatre during World War II.[40]
Albert M. Spradling, III	1994	2002	Son of Missouri state senator Albert Spradling, Jr.
Jay Knudtson	2002	2010	Banker and Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents member (2011-2018).[41]
Harry Rediger	2010	-	Former manager of the J. C. Penney in Cape Girardeau. Many years on the United Way Board of Directors.[42][43]

References

• Missouri Secretary of State official manuals

1. "Local News: Cape Girardeau mayors since 1843". Southeast Missourian. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. November 1, 2009.
2. Robert Sidney Douglass (1912). History of Southeast Missouri: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People and Its Principal Interests: Volume 1. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company.
3. "Cape Girardeau mayors". semissourian.com. November 1, 2009. Retrieved 2014-10-26.
4. "Anniversaries in 1949 of Events Recorded in The Missourian Files". Southeast Missouri. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. January 29, 1949.
5. "Hill, Meredith, McFarland, Harper, Jackson, Wieland, Mobley". Retrieved 2014-10-27.
6. Andrew Johnson (1997). The Papers of Andrew Johnson: April-August 1868. University of Tennessee Press.
7. Mark W. Geiger (2010). Yale Series in Economic and Financial History. Yale University.
8. "National Register of Historic Places: Old Lorimier Cemetery" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-10-25.
9. "History of the Sheriff". Retrieved 2014-10-26.
10. "Missouri Birth and Death Records Database". Retrieved 2014-10-25.
11. "History of Southeast Missouri: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, Its People and its Principal Interests". Retrieved 2014-10-26.
12. "History of the Prosecutor's Office". Retrieved 2014-10-26.
13. "Biographies: Cape Girardeau County Missouri Genealogy Trails". Retrieved 2014-10-26.
14. Mark Twain (1938). Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians: And Other Unfinished Stories. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
15. "Albert Hall & Dearmont House Council Minutes". Retrieved 2014-10-27.
16. "Leming Scrapbook, A Red-Letter Year for 1967-1968". Retrieved 2014-10-27.
17. "Pieronnet death certificate" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-10-26.
18. "Old Lorimier Cemetery" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-10-26.
19. "On Broadway" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-10-26.
20. "Warren C. Patton death certificate" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-10-26.
21. "Leming Hall Falls Victim to University Progress". Southeast Missourian. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. October 12, 1972.
22. "F. A. Kage, Former Cape Mayor, Dies". Southeast Missouri. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. October 6, 1932.
23. "William Hirsch death certificate" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-10-26.
24. "Out of the past 4/20/14". Southeast Missourian. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. April 20, 2014.
25. "Leadership of H. H. Haas Was Widely Recognized in District". Southeast Missourian. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. December 23, 1935.
26. "Heart Attack Is Fatal For Hinkle Statler Monday". Southeast Weekly Bulletin. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. April 26, 1962.
27. "Former city mayor dies at 74". Southeast Missourian. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. October 4, 1971.
28. He became mayor as acting mayor while Hinkle Statler was serving in the military during World War II.
29. "Mayor Walter H. Ford". Southeast Missourian. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. July 30, 2010.
30. "Community leader Randol dead at 83". Southeast Missourian. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. August 29, 1999.
31. "A century of commerce (Part 1, 1904-1990)". Retrieved 2014-10-26.
32. "Themis Turns A Thousand Tales" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-10-26.
33. "Former Cape Girardeau city managers". Retrieved 2014-10-27.
34. "SoutheastHEALTH Scholarship Opportunities". Retrieved 2014-10-26.
35. "Meet our Board of Directors". Retrieved 2014-10-26.
36. "Ivan Irvin obituary". Southeast Missourian. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. March 21, 2008.
37. "Capital Insurance and Associates". Retrieved 2014-10-26.
38. "Mayor Howard C. Tooke". Retrieved 2014-10-25.
39. "A Short History of our flagship brand -- Rhodes 101 Stops". Retrieved 2014-10-27.
40. "Former Cape Girardeau mayor, Rhodes 101 founder dies". 2014-12-16. Retrieved 2014-12-20.
41. "Jay B. Knudtson". Retrieved 2014-10-26.
42. "http://www.semissourian.com/gallery/capturedonfilm70". Southeast Missouri. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. June 30, 2016. External link in |title= (help)
43. "https://www.cityofcapegirardeau.org/CityHall/Mayor-Cape-Girardeau.aspx". Cape Girardeau, Missouri. External link in |title= (help);

Key

Key to party colors and abbreviations for members of the U.S. Congress
American (Know Nothing) (K-N) Adams (A), Anti-Jacksonian (Anti-J), National Republican (NR) Anti-Administration (Anti-Admin) Anti-Masonic (Anti-M) Conservative (Con) Democratic (D)	Dixiecrat (Dix), States' rights (SR) Democratic-Republican (D-R) Farmer–Labor (FL) Federalist (F) Free Soil (FS) Free Silver (FSv) Fusion (FU)	Greenback (GB) Jacksonian (J) Nonpartisan League (NPL) Nullifier (N) Opposition (O) Populist (Pop) Pro-Administration (Pro-Admin)	Progressive (Prog) Prohibition (Proh) Readjuster (Rea) Republican (R) Socialist (Soc) Unionist (U) Whig (W)	Independent, None, or Unaffiliated