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Cape Girardeau ( jirr-AR-doh, French: Cap-Girardeau [kap ʒiʁaʁdo] ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 39,540 at the 2020 census, making it the 17th-largest city in the state. It is a principal city of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson metropolitan area with 97,517 residents. Cape Girardeau is the economic center of southeastern Missouri and the home of Southeast Missouri State University. It is located approximately 100 miles (160 km) southeast of St. Louis and 150 miles (240 km) north of Memphis, Tennessee.

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 between 1704 and 1720 in the French colony of La Louisiane. The "Cape" in the city name referred to a rock promontory overlooking the Mississippi River; it was 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 (both pronounced the same in French).

The settlement of Girardeau is said to date from 1793 when the Spanish government, which had acquired Louisiana in 1764 following the French defeat in the Seven Years' War, granted Louis Lorimier, a French-Canadian, the right to establish a trading post. This 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 people.

Also in 1793, Baron Carondelet granted land near Cape Girardeau to the Black Bob Band of the Hathawekela Shawnee, who had migrated from across the Mississippi River. The Band became known as the Cape Girardeau Shawnee. They successfully resisted removal to Indian Territory with the rest of the Shawnee tribe until 1833.

In 1799, American settlers founded the first English school west of the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau at a landmark called Mount Tabor, named by the settlers for the Biblical Mount Tabor.

The town of Cape Girardeau was incorporated in 1808, prior to Missouri statehood. It was reincorporated as a city in 1843. The advent of the steamboat in 1835 and related river trade stimulated the development of Cape Girardeau as the biggest port on the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee.

During the Civil War, the city was the site of the Battle of Cape Girardeau on April 26, 1863. The Union and Confederate armies engaged in a minor four-hour skirmish, each sustaining casualties generally believed to be in the low double-digits.

For years travelers had to use ferries to cross the Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau. In September 1928 a bridge was completed between Missouri and Illinois. Built to accommodate cars, it was 20 feet (6.1 m) wide under standards of the time.

The Old Federal Courthouse, located at Broadway and Fountain Streets and built in the late 1940s, was the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case when it was being developed. In United States v. Carmack, 329 U.S. 230 (1946), the Court upheld the federal government's authority under the Condemnation Act of 1888 to seize land owned by a state or locality.

On May 21, 1949, a large tornado ripped through the city, killing 22 people, hospitalizing 72, and injuring hundreds of people. Temporary shelters were established at Cape Central High School, St. Mary's High School, John Cobb School, and the Knights of Columbus Hall.

In December 2003, the "Old Bridge" was succeeded by a new four-lane, cable-stayed bridge crossing the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau. Its official name is the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, honoring former U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson (R-Mo.) The two towers of the bridge reach a height of approximately 91 meters (299 ft). The "Old Bridge" was demolished after the Emerson Bridge opened.

节选，摘自英文维基百科「Cape Girardeau, Missouri」，按 CC BY-SA 4.0 使用。