Community News
Benld Council eyes moving city hall
While some aldermen remained reticent, Benld City Council members generally agreed Monday night to explore the feasibility of moving City Hall from its current quarters to the former First National Bank building on Central Avenue, which the city recently purchased.
Last month, the council authorized Mayor Jim Kelly to bid up to $100,000 for the building, located at 218 East Central Avenue and offered for sale via online bidding through Aumann Auction Service. The city’s final bid was $95,700, including a 10 percent auction fee.
Mayor Kelly said the 4,000 square foot building is an ideal location for city hall.
“It gives us a lot of opportunities and room for expansion,” Kelly said, adding that the former bank’s drive-up facility could be used to accept payments from citizens for water, sewer, and trash pick-up. “I think we should let the people of this town know that if we bought it, we’re going to use it.”
Ald. Jerry Saracco said he wasn’t opposed to moving city hall, but urged the council to take its time with the decision.
“I think we need to slow down a little,” Saracco said. “We need to get it cleaned and we need to get a furnace guy in there.” He also suggested that 4,000 square feet is too much space for what the city needs.
“I’m not opposed to putting City Hall over there,” said Ald. John Balzraine, “but we don’t have to be in a hurry.”
Kelly said the current City Hall is too small for the city’s needs. The relatively cramped council chamber, he said, is not conducive to hosting large numbers of guests. When large numbers of guests are anticipated, the council often moves its meetings to the Civic Center, where acoustics make it difficult for guests to hear what’s being discussed. Moreover, Kelly said the city currently has files archived upstairs, in a back room, and at the former Police Station down the street.
Apart from providing additional space for the council, city clerk and for storage, Kelly said the building could accommodate a Police Department if the city ever decided to restore the Benld City Police.
“I don’t think you’ll ever see a Police Department here again,” Ald. Lance Cooper commented.
“I agree we’ll never have a Police Department,” Saracco said, “not because we can’t afford the salaries but because we can’t afford the benefits the guys get. I’m not criticizing them but we don’t have the money for that.”
While generally agreeing the city will never reconstitute a police department, City Attorney Rick Verticchio indicated there may be some movement in the future to establish a policing district, similar to the CUSD 7 Fire Protection District or the Gillespie-Benld Ambulance District. The City of Mount Olive, where Verticchio also serves as City Attorney, is exploring entering into a cooperative agreement for police services. That could end up being an agreement between Mount Olive and Gillespie or between Mount Olive and Benld to create their own policing service. In either case, Verticchio said the new building would have the space to establish a police substation where officers can complete paperwork or be on call.
Verticchio commented that Mount Olive’s municipal complex is relatively new and is a source of pride in the community.
“I think having a reasonably efficient City Hall that looks nice when people come in is not a bad thing,” said Verticchio.
City Clerk Terri Koyne said she had drawn a tentative floor plan for the clerk’s office that would allow her to serve walk-in customers and the drive-up windows. She discounted concerns about not being able to keep up with demand, saying she sometimes has up to eight people in line for services in her current office space.
“I’m not opposed to it,” Saracco reiterated, “but I would want to see the layout.”
Aldermen concerned about the size of the building suggested the possibility of leasing half of the it to another entity, but Verticchio warned that leasing any part of the building will negate the city’s tax-exempt status for the entire building.
While no immediate action was taken, the council generally agreed to continue to investigate the feasibility of moving City Hall to the newly acquired building.
KEELY DEMOLITON BIDS
The council tabled action on accepting a bid to demolish and remove the Keely Building in the 100 block of North Main Street. The council voted last month to seek bids to raze the condemned two-story brick structure.
Bids ranging from $49,850 to $110,025 were opened prior to Monday night’s meeting, but council members declined to accept any bid over concerns about whether or not each of the bidders understood the scope of work. Mayor Kelly said demolishing the building will involve not only taking down the building and removing the debris but also meeting EPA requirements regarding asbestos mitigation and properly filling and compacting the hole left by the building’s basement.
GreenTrac, LLC, Bunker Hill, offered a bid of $49,850. Kamabulski Excavating and Grading, Granite City, provided a bid of %52,140. A bid of $94,300 came from Schaefer Excavating, Pontoon Beach, and J.P. Solutions, Benld, provided a bid of $110,025.
BALZRAINE PUTS LANDLORDS ON NOTICE
After asking Verticchio to send letters to the owners of nine properties with ordinance violations, Ald. Balzraine said he wanted to crack down on the owners of a rental residents who neglect their properties.
“We shouldn’t have to go after these landlords,” Balzraine said. “They should check their own properties. The city is getting tired of it. People don’t want to live next to that (neglected properties) and they shouldn’t have to.”
Properties Balzraine asked Verticchio to cite included:
- 714 Rose Street, junk dryer outside.
- P.O Box 188 South First Street, tall grass and collapsed building.
- 512 South First Street, neighbors complaining about junk, trash and diapers.
- 203 South Second Street, tall grass and old sofa outside.
- 304 South Second Street, old refrigerator outside.
- 404 Park Avenue, junk car in back.
- 214 Park Avenue, tires, collapsed garage and tall weeds.
- 201 North Seventh Street, remodeling project.
Three of the properties are owned by Cornerstone Rentals, owned by Tim Loveless, Gillespie. One is owned by Brian Komanesky, also of Gillespie. Both men own numerous rental properties in Benld.
In addition to the property Balzraine cited, Komanesky reportedly owns an 306 Park Avenue, which was the target of ordinance violations related to property maintenance. The tenant, Bonnie Kirk, appeared before the council Monday night to report the yard has been cleaned up. Saracco said brush in back of the residence also is in the process of being removed.
Balzraine said Komanesky was sent a letter about the property’s condition but “nothing was done.”
Kirk said she got little cooperation from her landlord regarding physical repairs.
Balzraine said her difficulties with the property owners didn’t come as a surprise. “You have to understand the reason I’m involved is I get calls from the neighbors,” he said. “People don’t want to live next to (derelict properties).”
Kirk also discussed a complaint about the number of cats at her residence. She said only three of the five cats around her home were actually hers. The others, she said, were neighborhood strays. Both Balzraine and Koyne reminded Kirk of the city’s leash law, saying her cats would be subject to being picked up if they are roaming free. She also was advised it is unlawful to feed feral cats.
Kirk told the council that she plans to move out of the house by the end of the month because of issues with her landlord and the fact the house is too big for her.
Koyne asked Verticchio to send a letter to Komanesky to ensure he has the house inspected before renting to another tenant and to ensure the water and sewer service is in the name of the tenant, not the property owner.
In a somewhat related matter, the council approved paying an $840.52 bill to Macoupin County Animal Control, with the provision that the city would no longer be responsible for charges incurred when Animal Control responds to calls from private citizens.
“People in town are calling them willy-nilly and we’re getting the bill for it,” Mayor Kelly said. “I don’t mind paying when we are the ones who call them.”
PROPERTY REPOSSESSION
The council voted unanimously to have Verticchio send a letter to Robert McLain advising McLain that the city plans to take possession of property at 217 South Seventh Street that the city sold to him three years ago.
“We sold the house with the agreement he would either tear it down or fix it,” Mayor Kelly said, alleging McLain had not made adequate progress on abating the nuisance property. “My opinion, we should take it back.”
McLain offered a successful bid of $500 to buy the property from the city in August 2021.
Council members also agreed to offer Monte Oberman $7,500 to purchase a residence at 215 East Central Avenue that previously was declared a nuisance. Overman reportedly agreed to sell the property to the city in lieu of abating the nuisance.
NEW HIRE
On the recommendation of City Clerk Koyne, the council approved hiring Gier Perkins on a 90-day probationary basis as an office worker in the City Clerk’s office.
AIR CONDITIONING REPAIR
Council members voted unanimously to accept of bid from McGhee Heating and Cooling, Mount Olive, to update air conditioning for the DeStefane Events Center (Civic Center). The bid includes $1,923 to update the thermostat system and $1,581 to replace one air conditioning unit.
LIBRARY BOARD APPOIINTMENTS
The council unanimously approved the Mayor’s reappointment of Denise Cadmus, Norman Emmons and Cindy Saracco to three-year terms on the Frank Bertetti Benld Public Library Board.
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Dana Carr Skinner, 52, of Gillespie has announced her candidacy for Macoupin County Circuit Clerk. She will be on the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot.
Dana, a lifelong Macoupin County resident was born and raised in Wilsonville by her
parents, Barb and Van Baker. She graduated Gillespie High School in 1990 and attended SIUE
before starting her family. She has raised eight children all of whom graduated college or attended trade school. Dana is married to Todd Skinner.
Dana is currently a public servant, serving the people of Illinois as a paralegal. She has
over 25 years legal experience with 15 of those years being directly in the courtroom. She has
worked in law firms that practiced in all areas of the law from probate, family, civil, traffic,
criminal and real estate. After working several years in the legal field, Dana went back to college and obtained a paralegal degree.
Dana is running for Circuit Clerk because, “It is time for me give back to my community
and the residents of Macoupin County. Lee Byots Ross has done an amazing job as our current Circuit Clerk and I want to continue the work that she has accomplished. My adult life has been focused on my family and my children, and they are now grown. My focus now, would be to demonstrate to the residents of Macoupin County that I can and will do an excellent job as
Circuit Clerk,” Dana said.
The Circuit Clerk is responsible for establishing, maintaining and keeping all records of
the court, as well as several administrative, financial and public services.
“There are employees in the office now that have worked there a number of years, and I will be committed to them and their opinions, as well as the people the Macoupin County. I will learn from the current employees if I am elected in November and I believe that I have the experience, the knowledge and the work ethic that would make me an asset to the Circuit Clerks Office’s team,” Dana said.
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United Mineworkers of America President Cecil Roberts will commemorate the 125th anniversary of Union Miners’ Cemetery in Mt. Olive on October 13. Ceremonies begin at noon with a short historical parade, Roberts, IL AFL-CIO President Tim Drea, and frequent labor music.
Afterward, a meal will be provided as the labor music continues. The event is free and open to the public. A portable chair is recommended.
The cemetery is located on near 5536 Mt. Olive Road in Mt. Olive and can be found by following North Lake Street.
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Background of Union Miners Cemetery by the Mother Jones Museum:
The Union Miners Cemetery is in Mt. Olive, a small mining-town that was once the center of a rebellious group of miners who helped to secure Illinois as the solid rock for the United Mine Workers Union. Today thousands of visitors come each year to pay their respects to the memory to Mother Jones and the spirit that guided her and the founders of the labor movement in the United States. They reflect about the connections between the past and the present.
The cemetery was established in 1899, when commemorations of the miners killed in the 1898 “Virden riot” became controversial in the Mt. Olive cemetery where they were originally buried.
The bodies of the Virden “martyrs” were re-interred in a cemetery established as the Union Miners Cemetery by the Mt. Olive United Mine Workers local. Commemorations of these events in the following years contributed to a generation of activism in the Illinois coal fields.
They did this by claiming the kind of memorial space that was denied in other places, such as Haymarket, where police often disrupted commemorations. This built a sense of connection between past and present in the area, and made it clear that ordinary workers had changed the course of history. The role of the ordinary worker came into focus. Mt. Olive was one of the few places in the country where labor history was taught before the 1970s.
This is a unique place in the history of the labor movement; it was the only union-owned cemetery in the country. This is a place with a monument to Mother Jones, but it also evokes the power and potential of the labor movement. It is a place of reflection and remembering, of thinking of the labor movement’s roots. It is a shrine not only to Jones but to the sacrifices that connected human rights and labor rights, a place where people wonder when and why labor lost power.
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When I decided to write this article, my original intent was to find out when they removed the rails down the middle of Macoupin Street, but I thought I might research when the railroads came and went in Gillespie. So here is a brief history!
In the 1850’s, railroads were becoming more important to the US for both transportation of people and goods. Chicago was the hub of railroad traffic in the west and cities throughout Illinois were vying to have railroads come through their section of the state. Having a railroad meant prosperity and growth. Towns would grow with increased population. The key question was where are the railroads going to go? Influence by key political people throughout the state was important.
Prominent people in the US and central Illinois like Judge Joseph Gillespie, William Mattoon, Electus B Litchfield and Robert Rantoul (Massachusetts senator) and others help bring the railroad south.
The move south was brought about by the chartering of the Terre-Haute & Alton Railroad in January 1851 out of Mattoon, Illinois. It was to extend south to Alton because legislators wanted Alton to compete with St. Louis in the growth of the area. The work was started in 1852 to originally go 172 miles. It was completed in March 1856. Extensions were created from Alton to Belleville and eventually to St. Louis. By 1857 the route was completed and a railroad went through Gillespie. The St. Louis connection was helped by the building of the Eads Bridge in 1874.
In June 1867, the Terre-Haute Alton Railroad was leased to the Indianapolis & St Louis Railroad but went into foreclosure in 1882 and sold to the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (known as the Big Four). This railroad came under control of Vanderbilt and the NY Central Railroad system.
The Terre-Haute Alton Railroad/Big Four Railroad came to Gillespie on an east west route. It passed through Gillespie today in the land next to the Civic Center, crossing Macoupin Street next to Subway. The Big Four Terminal was just off Macoupin Street where the Civic Center is located. There were additional terminals in Hornsby and Dorchester.
A 2nd railroad will add additional prosperity to Gillespie. The Illinois Traction System was a brainchild of William B. McKinley (not the president). He had a vision to create an electric railroad empire that covered at its peak 550 miles of rail.
The Traction system started in connecting Danville and Champaign in 1901-02, then to Decatur to Springfield in 1904. He also completed the route from Springfield to Granite City going through Gillespie and Benld in 1904. This Interurban as most people called it was a passenger service. It would eventually connect to Peoria by 1907 and St Louis by 1910. It was also possible to go to Chicago by connecting with other railroads. The Illinois Traction Terminal was on the corner of Macoupin and Spruce Streets where United Community Bank is located and at one time did have a small spur to the east.
Everyone associates the growth of Gillespie-Benld and the surrounding area to the coal mines, but the railroad also played a key part in the growth of the area.
You might wonder why main street is so wide compared to other towns’ business districts? Gillespie was unique by having the Interurban rail down the center of Macoupin Street but also the Big Four crisscrossed near Walnut Street. The town has to be one of the few towns in Illinois to have that unique situation.
In the early days, the crisscross intersection was controlled by only railroad signs. The “Stop, Look and Listen” slogan did not stop accidents at the crossing. Eventually, a crossing watchman was hired to control the car and pedestrian traffic at the intersection of the two railroad lines. It was also not unusual for a parked car to back into the Interurban in the business district.
These two railroads went north-south and east-west throughout town until the Interurban ceased to operate. The last Interurban use was on March 3, 1956. The rail line was eventually taken over by other railroads and would only be used for freight transportation, especially by Norfolk Western and other railroad lines. The rail line did have a brief arrangement to transport coal from Monterrey Coal Junction to Edwardsville in 1970, but the last use of the old Interurban Line for freight use occurred on August 20, 1970.
The eventual decline of the railroads in Gillespie coincides with the decline of the coal mines. Railroads were being transformed from coal to diesel and coal use immediately declined.
The Big Four stopped operating on December 17, 1964. Slowly they started to remove the tracks between Litchfield and Bethalto. Illinois maps show Big Four railroad tracks in 1965, but they are gone by 1967.
Now to the original premise of the article, when were the railroad tracks removed down the middle of Macoupin Street? My sources throughout town were varying, I got all kinds of guesses. I narrowed it down by my own memory. It was there in 1972 when I started teaching but then all of a sudden it was gone. I searched newspapers in the fall of 1972, then 1973 and I found it in 1974.
In January of 1974, the city decided to do something about the water lines in the business district. There was a conversation in late February to remove the tracks, but when will they do it? At the same time there was discussion about the sewer lines where the tracks are located. So, the city decided to it all at the same time, remove the tracks, and do water and sewer lines. By early April 1974, the tracks are gone and by early May, the downtown was a mess because of the water main project. After the downtown removal of tracks, the city eventually moved further north and south on Macoupin to remove the remaining tracks.
So, what proved to be a simple search gave you, the readers, a history of the railroads in Gillespie. Stop by the library and see the assorted railroad pictures and if you have anything railroad-related or an interesting picture involving the railroad such as an accident involving the railroads. I would like to see them.
