Illinois Wesleyan UniversityOwned Parcels
City of BloomingtonSite of former Electrolux office building
807 N Main St
Former Elmo QuinnShell Gas Station802-804 N Main
“Electrolux” Redevelopment SiteSite of former Mennonite Hospital / Eureka / Electrolux Offices
800 Block of North Main Street / US Route 51 (Historic US Route 66)Bloomington, IL 61701
Property Owners:
City of Bloomington Office of Economic Development
Austin Grammer, MBAEconomic Development Coordinator
Office Direct: 309-434-2611Mobile: 309-336-2178
Fax: [email protected]
www.cityblm.orgCity Hall: 109 East Olive Street, Bloomington, IL 61701
Government Center: 115 East Washington Street, Bloomington, IL 61701Mailing Address: PO Box 3157, Bloomington, IL 61702-3157
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Aerial Parcel Map 0 110 22055 FeetODATE 4/1/2015Public Works Department
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LegendRedevelopment Project Area Boundary
o September 2016
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Base Data Source: McLean County Regional Planning Commission
Exhibit A - Redevelopment Project Area BoundaryNorth Main Street / Chestnut Street Redevelopment Project Area
BLOOMINGTON
Nearly centuryold Mennonite Hospital building beingrazed
1 HOUR AGO • MARY ANN [email protected]
BLOOMINGTON — The walls of the nearlycenturyold former Mennonite Hospital aretumbling down.
"We're preparing the site for sale," said TomKirk, who owns the building at 807 N. MainSt. along with his father and brother, Tim andMike Kirk.
The Kirks purchased the property fromElectrolux in September 2011. The Swedish
appliance manufacturer, which bought The Eureka Co. in 1974 and moved it to theMennonite site in 2000, later decided to move the corporate offices to North Carolina.
Tom Kirk said there currently isn't a developer interested in the property but razing thebuilding that has sat vacant for about four years will make it ready for a potential sale.
Austin Grammer, economic development coordinator for the city of Bloomington, said"getting it shovelready will help."
But Greg Koos, executive director of the McLean County Historical Society, saiddemolishing such structures — rather than considering other options — is not sustainable.
"Our community's continual willingness to not consider adaptive reuse of existing buildingsand our throwaway attitude is not sustainable long term," Koos said.
He said the fact that Bloomington's decision to allow the blighted property right next to athreatened neighborhood like Franklin Park "is eroding its own tax base."
The original structure was built in 1918 by Dr. George Kelso as part of the Kelso Sanitarium.A year later, the Central Illinois Mennonite churches agreed to establish a sanitarium,hospital and training school in Bloomington and Kelso sold 807 N. Main to the Mennonites in1920.
The Mennonite Sanitarium Association also took charge of the Kelso Training School with11 student nurses.
The Mennonite Sanitarium was renamed Mennonite Hospital later that decade.
Several additions were built over the years, and in 1946, a new home for nursing students,
eventually named Troyer Hall, was constructed nearby at 804 N. East St. Illinois WesleyanUniversity brought that building in 2000.
Just as the building was growing, so were the services offered at the hospital. An eye bankwas established in 1951; a child care center was started in 1967; and a longterm care unitin 1970. Later that decade, hospice, adult day care and wellness programs were added.
The 1970s also brought a controversial annual event to the site. In 1974, the American NaziParty started the annual tradition of laying a wreath outside the hospital in honor of partyfounder George Lincoln Rockwell, who was born at the Kelso Sanitarium in 1918.
At the onset, the event brought a large group which marched up Main Street from downtownBloomington to the hospital. Numbers started dwindling by the late 1980s and shortly after,no one marked the event.
In 1984, Mennonite Hospital merged with Brokaw Hospital to become BroMenn Healthcare.The Mennonite Hospital emergency room was closed five years later, and the building wasrenamed BroMenn Lifecare Center, offering such things as longterm care, wellnessprograms and rehabilitation. Heritage Enterprises took over the longterm care arm of thehospital in 1997 and the Lifecare Center closed its doors.
Grammer said the site is one of the last big sites available for development in the city.
Building history
1918 — Original part of facility built by Dr. George Kelso as part of Kelso Sanitarium.
1920 — Kelso sold 807 N. Main St. to Mennonite Sanitarium Association. The buildingwas renamed Mennonite Hospital later in the 1920s.
19321941 — Additions were built.
1946 — Troyer Memorial Nurses Home for nursing students was built (later renamedTroyer Hall).
1951 — An eye bank was established at Mennonite in cooperation with the WatsonGailey Eye Foundation of Bloomington.
19531961 — More additions built.
1970 — Another addition was build and a longterm care unit later known as BroMennLong Term Care was established.
1974 — The American Nazi Party started an annual tradition of laying a wreath outsidethe hospital to recognize its founder, George Lincoln Rockwell, who was born at KelsoSanitarium in 1918. The pilgrimage died out in the late 1980s.
1981 — Surgical facility, lab and offices were added.
1984 — Mennonite and Brokaw hospitals merged and became BroMenn Healthcare.
1989 — Mennonite's emergency room was closed and the facility's focus became allied
care including longterm care, wellness programs and rehabilitation.
199798 — Heritage Enterprises took over longterm care patients; rest of Mennonite'sdepartments moved to BroMenn Regional Medical Center, the former Brokaw Hospital,in Normal.
1998 — The Eureka Co. announced plans to purchase the site.
2000 — Eureka moves administrative offices, engineering, prototype development anddesign departments to 807 N. Main St.
2000 — Illinois Wesleyan University buys Troyer Hall from Eureka.
2004 — The Eureka Co. becomes part of Electolux, which purchased the business in1974.
2011 — Electrolux moves the operation to Charolotte, N.C.
2011 — Kirk Holdings purchases 807 N. Main St.
2015 — Demolition of the site begins.