Belleville aims to get 800 buildings on National Register of Historic Places
BY LAURA GIRRESCH
News-Democrat
BELLEVILLE --The City Council is taking steps to have an area of about 800 buildings named as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.
That's a move city leaders hope could boost tourism dollars, encourage development with a historic proclivity, and preserve the city's German immigrant history.
City leaders are negotiating with Michigan-based Commonwealth Cultural Resources Group Inc. to perform a survey to determine whether the area qualifies. The survey could cost up to $27,000, Ward 7 Alderman Jack LeChien said, though the city has about $15,000 from a state grant and would only be responsible for up to $12,00 to make up the difference.
The proposed national historic district would stretch in the northwest part of the city from Illinois Street to 16th Street, bordered to the north by F Street and to the south by West Main Street. It's made up of a mix of buildings that date as far back as the early 19th century in an area that once was heavily populated with German immigrants.
