Work begins at Freedom Farm after St. Clair County closes on purchase
St. Clair County has closed on the purchase of the Freedom Farm, a former American Legion recreation area and campground that includes swimming and fishing lakes in rural Freeburg. The property has deteriorated in recent years and experienced squatting and criminal activity.
The St. Clair County Board approved an agreement to purchase the site from the George E. Hilgard American Legion Post 58 with $640,000 in federal COVID-related relief funds in December.
The Legion once hosted scout camps, military gatherings, fish fries, concerts and festivals on the 104-acre property. The county wants to turn it into a community park.
The County Board allocated another $20,000 in COVID-19 relief funds toward the work to be done before the Freedom Farm can open to the public. County Board Chairman Mark Kern said previously that county park funds could also potentially be used at the Freedom Farm.
The planned work includes mowing and trimming overgrown grass and weeds, and demolishing derelict mobile homes and pole barns that veterans once used as clubhouses.
Post 58 attorney Doug Stewart previously told the Belleville News-Democrat that property maintenance decreased and security problems increased as clubhouse owners and other members died over the years. Membership dropped from about 600 in the 1990s to 134 in 2024.
The St. Clair County Board voted Monday night to install a fence at the Hilgard Memorial Drive property for $30,366.
Kern noted during the meeting that County Board member Andy Bittle of District 21, which includes Freeburg, had been receiving calls about the need to secure the property’s entrance.
Kern added that the county has been mowing since taking ownership. Officials plan to start demolitions of the derelict buildings this winter, according to the chairman.
“It is going to be the most beautiful park in southern Illinois,” Kern said Monday.
When asked previously about the timeline for opening it as a park, Kern estimated that it took the county two and a half to three years to turn the 143 acres of former farmland at Engelmann Farm in Shiloh into a public park with a large paved walking trail, picnic pavilions and benches.
“I would think that (the Freedom Farm) isn’t going to instantly be the recreational space that we want it to be, but we think with some demolition and some mowing we can get pretty far to at least using part of the area,” he said in December.
Five County Board members were absent from Monday’s meeting: Democrats Roy Mosley Jr. of District 3, Jerry Dinges of District 15, Scott Tieman of District 17, Susan Gruberman of District 22 and Richie Meile of District 25.
