Illinois parish transforms abandoned factory into senior community

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The Cottage at Cathedral Square in Belleville, Ill., are next door to the church. (Courtesy of The Cathedral of St. Peter)

Peter Feuerherd | Aug. 18, 2016

The Cathedral of St. Peter in Belleville, Ill., received a gift of an abandoned pants factory, a decaying remnant of Midwest industry empty for 18 years, adjacent to the downtown church. It was an eyesore. A true lemon.

"To be good citizens we had to tear it down," said Msgr. John Myler, cathedral rector. "We were thinking we would just be left with a hole in the ground."

But demolishing it would cost more than half a million dollars. Combined with a near-empty convent, a building made to house 18 but where only one sister lived, as well as an old tavern the church also owned, the parish was in a state of being building- and land- rich yet strapped for resources.

What to do?



The Cottage at Cathedral Square in Belleville, Ill. (Courtesy of The Cathedral of St. Peter)

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/illinois-parish-transforms-abandoned-factory-senior-community