Cape Girardeau County History Center

Cape Girardeau County Historical Society opened the History Center in Uptown Jackson in 2015 with continuing support from the Shelby and Mildred Brown Trust. The museum uses rotating exhibits to explore military, biographical, business, school, church, community, and collecting history across the county rather than presenting one permanent chronological gallery.

The current exhibit page lists subjects including the Mighty Mississippi, women in enslavement in Cape County, African American Union soldiers from the county, historic South High Street, a Jackson bottling works, sales-tax tokens, and local people and businesses. Because this is a rotating community museum, the official current-exhibits page should control what is actually on view.

The separate Research Annex opened in 2020 at 110 S High Street. It houses history and family books, small manuscripts, photographs, genealogy databases, military research archives, maps, correspondence, postcards, newspapers, and named family and business collections. Research hours are Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; the society asks visitors to call before arriving so materials can be prepared.

The museum is independent from Iron Mountain Railway but geographically close. An OSRM route check measured about 0.5 driving mile between the depot and 102 S High Street, making a free museum visit a practical addition before a 1 p.m. train without confusing the two organizations or their schedules.