Cape Girardeau

Formed October 1, 1812 (1^st county)

Cape Girardeau County (81,707), Jackson (15,478), Cape Girardeau (39,531)

A masonry and stone Beaux Arts structure on the square at Court, Main, Barton, and Washington Streets was built in 1906 replacing the 1871 courthouse.  The building is two blocks to the west of United States Highway 61.  The courthouse designer is Patrick Henry Weathers.  A clock dome and fountain are the structure’s features.  An Administrative Center was built in Jackson in 1986 and an 1894 augmenting courthouse is in Cape Girardeau.  The county was created on October 1, 1812 as the original county with Jackson as the only county seat.  The county is named for an outcrop in the Mississippi River which was named for settler Jean Baptiste de Girardot.  The county seat is named for United States President Andrew Jackson.  He is also the namesake of Jackson County and Hickory County. 

Cape Girardeau County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a collector, a coroner, an assessor and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Two Circuit Court Judges serve Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, and Perry counties and One County Court Judge and a court clerk serve Cape Girardeau County (judicial.) The county is in the southeast on the Mississippi River border with Illinois.  Saint Louis, Missouri is northwest and Springfield, Missouri is west of the county.  The county center is in Jackson 2.7 miles East of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Perry County and Illinois and Scott, Stoddard, and Bollinger counties. 

The area of the county is 579 square miles.  It is 59 out of 115 in the state.  It ranks 15 out of 115 in population in the state.  It has a density of 141.1 persons per square mile making it 16 out of 115 in the state.  Cape Girardeau County has 69.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 55 travels north to south in the county from Perry County to Scott County.  United States Highway 61 parallels Interstate Highway 55 from Perry to Scott counties.  The county resembles a man’s head.  Jackson is located near the center of the county.  The City of Cape Girardeau is on the eastern border and extends into Scott County.  Jackson is the county seat and Cape Girardeau is the largest city.  Jackson is 18.9% of the county population while Cape Girardeau is 48.4% of the county population.  The county and largest city are pronounced KAEP GI-RAR-DOE.  This county is in the Cape Girardeau-Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.