BELLEVILLE, Ill. — A historic mansion in Belleville will soon become a new community park.
The mansion, built in 1857, is located in front of the Chenot Place subdivision, right off Carlyle Avenue. Many people know it as the Chenot Mansion.
At the end of June, St. Clair Township will purchase the property and start turning it into a park.
The property sits on almost five acres of land. St. Clair County is giving the Township a $500,000 grant to turn it into a walking trail around the entire property by next summer.
But that's not all they plan to do. In the fall, St. Clair Township Supervisor Shelly Korves says they'll seek input from the community.
"Depending on community feedback, decide what other things they'd like to see here. But I like the idea of keeping it green and just a natural extension of the Chenot Place subdivision," Korves said.
Augustus Chenot, a prominent Belleville resident, first owned the home.
The St. Clair County Historical Society designated the mansion as a landmark in 1963.
"It's kind of amazing because for almost 170 years, this property has only had about five owners," said William Shannon, the executive director of the St. Clair County Historical Society.
Shannon said he's excited to see it continue as a historical landmark in Belleville.
"It's a testament to the Chenot family who lived here and the developer of Chenot Place that he kept this as green space. He bought it himself and then sold it all as a piece of green space through the years and it stayed that way, when it very easily could've been developed. I think it'll be a real asset to the neighborhood," Shannon said.
Jill and Vladimir Halupa are longtime residents of Chenot Place. They're looking forward to using the new park.
"They're going to turn it into something very useful and keep it a green space. We need more green spaces around town," Jill said.
Resident Sharrol Toenjes had concerns about how it would be developed.
"We were very worried about it being multi-family or zoned commercial, the house would be torn down, and they would build some hideous strip mall, or worse, cheap apartments. So we're very happy it's being saved," Toenjes said.