November 12, 2024
Shaw Local
NewsPrep SportsOgle County OpinionObituarieseNewspaperStarved Rock CountryThe First Hundred Miles

Mt. Morris purchases downtown building destroyed in April fire

Village trustees voted unanimously to buy 1 N. Wesley Ave., plan to demolish it

By Alexa Zoellner
An excavator demolished the two buildings at the corner of Wesley Avenue and Main Street, on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in downtown Mt. Morris. The buildings were destroyed in an April fire.

An excavator demolished the two buildings at the corner of Wesley Avenue and Main Street, on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in downtown Mt. Morris. The buildings were destroyed in an April fire. (Earleen Hinton)

MT. MORRIS — The village of Mt. Morris plans to buy 1 Wesley Ave., which was one of two buildings destroyed in an April 16 fire.

In a special meeting on Oct. 15, Mt. Morris Village Board trustees voted unanimously to buy the property. The purchase price was not listed on the publicly accessible portion of the ordinance.

“Our plans would be to demo the building,” Village President Phil Labash said after the meeting. “We do not have a timeline at this point.”

Labash declined to comment further on the purchase.

The two buildings destroyed in the April fire are 1 N. Wesley Ave. and 3 N. Wesley Ave., the latter of which housed Sharky’s Sports Bar.

As of Oct. 21, Ogle County property tax records list Brock and Heather Swanlund as the owners of 1 N. Wesley Ave.

Double Duce Corp., care of Michael Rossi, is listed as the owner of 3 N. Wesley Ave.

At 1:33 p.m. April 16, the Mt. Morris Fire Protection District was alerted to flames coming from an apartment in the building at 1 N. Wesley Ave.

The fire quickly spread to Sharky’s Sports Bar because of strong winds and the absence of a firewall separating the two structures. The fire was extinguished by 5 p.m., with most mutual-aid companies released by 7 p.m.

The Mt. Morris Fire Protection District requested a Mutual Aid Box Alarm System Box 15 to the third-alarm level for additional assistance from Advanced EMS; from the Byron, Dixon City, Dixon Rural, Forreston, German Valley, Lanark, Oregon, Pecatonica, Polo, Shannon and Stillman fire protection districts; and from Ogle County Emergency Management.

“The cause of the fire has been ruled as undetermined and the case has been closed on our end,” State Fire Marshal’s Office Public Information Officer JC Fultz said on Wednesday, Oct. 23.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include a comment from the State Fire Marshal’s Office regarding the cause of the April 16 fire. — Oct. 23, 2024

Ogle CountyMt. MorrisMt. Morris Village BoardFireBusinessReal Estate
Alexa Zoellner

Alexa Zoellner

Alexa Zoellner reports on Lee, Ogle and Whiteside counties for Shaw Media out of the Dixon office. Previously, she worked for the Record-Eagle in Traverse City, Michigan, and the Daily Jefferson County Union in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.