My sympathies to the Unitarians
I drove up Hamilton Boulevard and saw the pile of rubble that was once the Universalist Unitarian Church.
It’s sad. And I offer my sympathies to church members — both to those who fought like hell to keep the church from being sold to Methodist Medical Center and to those in the majority who agreed to the sale. It must not have been an easy day for any of them.
It can only imagine my feelings if a place where I had devoted so much of my time and energy were taken away. We’ve lost a lot of truly historical places in Peoria. To this day, I get angry when I think about the loss of the Palace, the Rialto and the Madison theaters. Those old big-screen movie houses with ornate gilded interiors are like places of worship for a movie buff.
That being said: Property rights are property rights. The church decided to sell. It wasn’t unanimous, but it was the church’s decision. And that was the end of it, as far as I am concerned. There are people who simply refuse to see it that way. They think that certain buildings don’t really belong to the people whose name is on the deed, but because other people derive pleasure and satisfaction from a building’s continued existence, the public instead has the right to tell the owners what do do with the property.
It was explained to me this way: When someone buys a building that has been deemed historic, the owner needs to realize going in that there are things you can and cannot do, and that the owner is essentially purchasing a list of extra responsibilities. Historic buildings must be preserved, they say, because these buildings are history. Nonsense. Buildings are buildings. History itself doesn’t cease to exist because a building was demolished.
It’s hard to take historic preservation seriously in Peoria. So many times, the process used to determine which places are historic and which ones are not has historically (if you will pardon the pun) are instead perverted to satisfy the needs of the movers and shakers in Peoria. We’ve seen it used to keep someone from building apartments on North Knoxville Avenue. We’ve seen historic preservation activists ignore the rules they enforce on others.
If the people who decide what structures are off limits for historic preservation reasons were truly serious about their role, then they never would have allowed this demolition to take place. But a mover and shaker wanted that land. And so, it is gone. If historic preservation orgsanizations wanted to save that church, they could have done so. They chose not to.
This is not an argument in favor is keeping it from being torn down. I’m simply pointing out the inconsistency. And I’m not arguign that those church members who didn’t want to sell werew wrong. Instead, I wish their side had prevailed within the internal debate at the UU Church.
In the end, the owners of property simply must be allowed to do what they want with their property, within reasonable safety and zoning rules. Those who want to tell people what to do with their property should be willing to pony up the costs. In this case, the church wants a larger and more modern building that will let it do the things modern churches do for their members and for the community.
Certainly that’s more essential to our freedom that making sure people can drive buy and notice how pretty the building is.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Bill,
I live in Peoria, but am not a native Peorian and am in disgust at how the city of Peoria changing. That was a beautiful church that was destroyed. This town is becoming more and more of a complete box style town when it comes to its asthetic beauty.
The development along Allen Road is another disgrace. One thing I’ve noticed about Peorians is how defensive they are about their town and how unique they claim it to be. Sadly, this town is destroying all of its character and it not only doesn’t seem to notice, but not only care.
Downtown Peoria is a shell of its former self and now seems to be mainly that of flat empty parking lots that are never full.
“Asthetic beauty” is fine when it’s efficient, but there’s absolutely no reason to keep any building that’s not energy efficent. Face it, rising fuel costs make it hard to heat and cool a building that has air leaks.
This IS the 21st century. Like it or not. Information networks are important to any business.
My opinion. I would much rather have a “box” hospital building with all the lateest technology to treat me and my family than a “beautiful” building.
Historic preservation is nice if and only if it’s economical. I hate to see 100 year old buildings torn down, but sometimes, it just has to happen. Take a ton of pictures so the building is not forgotten. Buildings like the 100 year old church are not built like that anymore for a reason. 50 years from now, these “box style” buildings will be fighting the same fight. Something newer will come along and we’ll scream about how beautiful these buildings are and how they shouldn’t be torn down. yadda, yadda, yadda. Circle of life, etc.
[...] happened with the UU Church and with Roanoke [...]