City of Belleville to demolish 12 derelict homes, one trailer and a former church
A company hired by the city of Belleville is expected to begin demolition of 14 derelict buildings in early February.
The list consists of 12 homes, plus a trailer and former church. The total demolition cost is $245,000.
“These are houses that people had numerous opportunities to buy,” said Scott Tyler, director of health, housing and building. “ I’ve got pictures of all of them, and they’re all in terrible shape. The neighbors are thrilled to death (that they’re being torn down).”
In most cases, owners have abandoned the buildings and neglected to respond to phone calls, emails or registered letters, prompting the city to seek demolition orders from St. Clair County Circuit Court, Tyler said.
Some of the buildings have been broken into multiple times by homeless people who have stolen fixtures, built fires and filled rooms with trash, debris and buckets of human waste, Tyler said.
The demolitions will be done by Hank’s Excavating & Landscaping, which submitted the lowest of six bids, according to a bid sheet in an agenda packet for the Belleville City Council meeting on Jan. 21.
The most expensive demolition involves a white two-story building at 807 Scheel St., on the corner of Scheel and White Street, near the Belleville MetroLink station. The cost is $55,000.
“It was a church many, many years ago,” Tyler said. “The homeless have been consistently getting into it. Within the last three months, we’ve probably boarded it up 10 times.”
The circa 1900 building originally housed saloons that served workers at two foundries across the street, according to Bob Brunkow, historian for Belleville Historical Society. It became Bethel Temple in the 1940s.
Most built in the 1800s
Nine homes on the demolition list were built in the 1800s, Brunkow said. That includes two small townhouses on 17th and 18th streets that are unusual for the neighborhood and three German American folk houses. One originated as a multifamily unit known as a “row house.”
Most of the homes were occupied by working-class residents, Brunkow said. One exception is 308 E. B St. It was built about 1884 for Alfred Mayer, a local businessman. He added a second story in the late 1890s with a mansard roof. Its slate shingles are still visible.
Mayer was a Bavarian who immigrated at age 3 with his parents and settled in Connecticut. He moved to Belleville in the 1870s and worked as a pawnbroker before opening a men’s clothing store on Main Street.
“One news report called his store ‘one of the completest clothing stores we ever saw,’” Brunkow said.
“He was a fast burner and had two bankruptcies. At some point, he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, for a time but returned to Belleville to become a bookkeeper and office manager for L. Wolfort & Co. stables, one of the largest dealers of horses and mules in the area.”
Mayer was involved in many civic groups, ran for alderman and served on the First Mutual Building Association board. He was an incorporator and shareholder of businesses and organizer in 1888 of a “Sunday school” for Jews, who had no house of worship.
Brunkow understands that many buildings on the demolition list may be beyond repair, but he still hates to see them replaced with vacant lots due to the loss of historical context.
“A vacant lot does nothing to spark the imagination or raise the question of who was here, what did they do or how are they related to us,” he said.
One removed from list
Originally, the city planned to tear down 15 buildings this fiscal year, but one was removed from the list because someone pointed out that it’s one of the oldest homes in Belleville, Tyler said.
The brick German American folk house at 312 N. Charles St. was built in 1837, according to St. Clair County parcel records. It’s been painted yellow. Stickers on windows and doors indicate it has been condemned for years.
“It’s completely destroyed on the inside,” Tyler said. “It had a fire. It’s only about 700 square feet. It’s very small. It’s a complete, complete renovation. It needs to be gutted and all new drywall put up. It needs all new electrical, plumbing, furnace, the whole shebang.”
The owner, who lives in Collinsville, didn’t respond to multiple city notices but recently surfaced and expressed a desire to sell the home, Tyler said. He’s disputing that he owes the city $2,500 for delinquent sewer bills and $500 for grass-cutting over the years.
Here are addresses for the 14 buildings to be demolished, work descriptions, costs and Tyler’s observations:
115 N. 33rd St. — $13,000 to remove house, garage, dead tree abutting garage, swing-set frame and outdoor brick burn pit; and fill in two cisterns/wells according to county health guidelines. Badly vandalized by juveniles.
121 S. 17th St. — $22,000 to remove house, garage, large bush and brush next to garage; and fill in burn pit near back porch. “Infamous drug house” raided in 2021 and later featured as Drug House of the Month on St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department web page.
113 S. 18th St. — $17,000 to remove house, garage, brush in rear and rusted metal fence between homes at 111 and 115 S. 18th St. Shotgun-style home with asphalt siding that’s “rotting away” under vines behind St. Mary’s Catholic School.
647 S. 19th St. — $5,000 to remove trailer, ramp, brush pile at ramp, all fencing and brush along front of trailer abutting Roosevelt Avenue. Vacant for many years and in poor condition.
308 E. B St. — $17,000 to remove house, shed and gray fencing. Dilapidated home formerly occupied by elderly man who went into assisted living.
216 N. 13th St. — $12,000 to remove house, garage, shed, concrete steps, wooden fencing on front/side and all brush in front/rear of property. Place where homeless people break in and stay.
322 N. Eighth St. — $16,000 to remove house, concrete wall/steps in front, rear room addition/garage, vines covering addition and fencing. Place where homeless people break in and stay.
12 E. D St. — $17,000 to remove house and all brush on property. Formerly occupied by woman and two sons living rent-free due to owner abandoning the dilapidated property.
710 S. High St. — $23,000 to remove house, garage at alley, concrete wall/stairs at sidewalk and all scrub brush. Place where homeless people break in and stay.
807 Scheel St. — $55,000 to remove building, metal shed and all scrub brush, but not neighbor’s fencing. Housed saloons, then a church. Recently occupied by homeless people, requiring city workers to board up repeatedly.
121 Hillwood Drive — $20,000 to remove house, concrete stairs from front of house to garage and scrub brush in front. Judge gave owners extra time to fix up before ordering demolition; they didn’t follow through.
611 E. McKinley St. — $8,000 to remove house, red brick wall on west side and three sets of concrete stairs in front, retaining wall and scrub brush. Place where homeless people break in and stay.
602 W. Lincoln St. — $10,000 to remove house, shed, fencing at rear of property and on west side and all scrub brush. Home condemned since before Tyler became housing director in 2021.
730 State St. — $10,000 to remove house, two small trees on north side, concrete steps and sidewalk on front terrace. Home owned by city for years; Tyler didn’t know until recently.
This story was originally published January 27, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
