Dear Editor,
Congratulations to Bishop Hill and all of Henry County on the plan for restoration of the Colony Church and other historic structures there. A May 16 article in The Kewanee Voice indicated that the church, Bjorklund Hotel, and several more of the state historic structures in Bishop Hill will get the financial help from the Illinois DNR that it needs after years of deferred maintenance. Finally!
Securing the funds for this project was not easy. It has taken years of work by many local people to keep Bishop Hill’s needs in the forefront. People have written to their elected officials numerous times and visited Springfield to encourage the state of Illinois to take care of their historic properties and state parks. State Representative Travis Weaver supported this much-needed project, as well as many local voices, and their efforts made this happen.
May is historic preservation month, time to remind our communities about the importance of preserving our historic structures. These important places, like Bishop Hill, generate tourism and bring thousands of dollars to our state and local communities.
But, it’s not just state historic sites and Bishop Hill’s Colony Church that are steeped in history and have structures worth saving. Kewanee, Galva, Cambridge, Annawan, Geneseo, Atkinson, Mineral, Neponset, and Sheffield all have beautiful, yet unassuming, 19th and early 20th century homes and public buildings worth saving.
Many architecturally interesting homes and downtown buildings have been lost in the past twenty-five years in our local communities, mostly due to deferred maintenance and neglect. Restoration is expensive, especially when regular maintenance has not been done, yet constructing new buildings is costly as well; often more costly. (Landmarks Illinois is an excellent resource for preservation facts and possible grants for restoration. Visit their website at: www.landmarks.org)
Tourism and local pride is greater when our communities maintain a sense of local history. Our buildings aren’t necessarily awe-inspiring like the much-older cathedrals and city centers of European cities, but there is a simple beauty in our brick and wood-frame homes, downtown buildings, and churches, all built with hope, sweat, and pride by our ancestors.
Sometimes, these buildings outlast their original purpose, but with creative thinking, solutions can often be found, and buildings can live on through adaptive reuse. Locally, the former St. Francis Church in Kewanee is now home to Kewanee Physical Therapy and Rehab. Other former churches have been converted into recording studios and concert venues because of the excellent acoustics, and some have been converted into wedding venues, restaurants, and brew pubs.
Also in Kewanee, the former Arrow Real Estate and Spets Brothers building is now home to CoCo’s and soon a bookstore. The old S.S. Kresge Department Store building (and more recently, P.L. Damron’s) is now The Downtown Eatery and Bakery in Kewanee. Kirley and Sons men’s store is now home to The Voice newsroom.
For decades, The former Geneseo House has been home to The Cellar Restaurant and business space on the floors above, including Anthology for Books, Geneseo’s new bookstore. Adaptive re-use has been happening for years and continues to be an environmentally-friendly and viable option for businesses and homes. The ideal situation is one that respects the original architecture and purpose of the building, while still being functional.
Communities across the U.S., Europe, and all over the world become destinations because of their architecture, unique attractions, and sense of history. We don’t seek out towns and villages to admire their cement-block and metal structures, endless strip malls and parking lots.
Besides the lay of the land, parks, unique trees and forests, and the people who inhabit our communities, it’s our architecture that sets one community apart from another, especially here on the Illinois prairie. When possible, let’s respect the hard work, artistry, and craftsmanship of those before us, and find creative solutions as a way to preserve these unique American buildings in our local communities.
Sincerely,
Marty Golby
Geneseo, Illinois
