What to See in Belleville - Top Sights and Attractions

Catholic cathedral in Belleville, Illinois. The Cathedral of Saint Peter is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville, located in Belleville, Illinois.

The cathedral parish of Saint Peter was founded in 1842 at a location east of the present structure, and named after Saint Barnabas the Apostle; it was rededicated to Saint Peter in 1847. By 1863, the congregation recognized the need for a larger structure. It constructed a brick church on the cathedral's present site which it dedicated in 1866.

In 1887, Pope Leo XIII created the Diocese of Belleville from the southern portion of the Diocese of Alton (now the Diocese of Springfield) and named Reverend John Janssen as the first bishop. Janssen chose St. Peter's as his cathedral.

On January 4, 1912, around 6 p.m. neighborhood children noticed a fire in the upper portion of the building. Although they arrived quickly, firefighters were hampered in their efforts to extinguish the blaze by a lack of water pressure to reach the 80 ft (24 m) roof and the bitter 15 °F (−9 °C) temperatures. Water company officials blamed the poor water pressure on a broken valve at the water station. Soon, the fire burned through the roof timbers, which fell and ignited other parts of the structure. When the fire was extinguished, all that remained were the exterior walls and bell tower. One local newspaper estimated the damage at US$100,000 and said that insurance would cover only $40,000 of the repairs.

The present structure's Gothic architecture was modeled after that of the Cathedral of Exeter, England. It was designed by the architect Victor Klutho. The brick walls were covered with Winona split-face dolomitic limestone accented with Indiana limestone in 1956. The sanctuary was renovated in 1968, to conform to directives of the Second Vatican Council, and the south end of the cathedral expanded to increase capacity to 1,270. A mass in January 2012, marked the centennial of the fire and rebuilding, and also reinstallation of the pulpit and cathedra canopy which were removed during the 1968 work.

The cathedral houses a three-manual, 40-rank organ by the M. P. Moller Company that dates from 1968. A second console has been added along with four ranks of pipes.^[1]

Museum in St. Clair County, Illinois. The William and Florence Schmidt Art Center is a 6,500-square-foot art museum located on the Belleville Campus of Southwestern Illinois College, which houses a collection of over 900 works of art and artifacts, the largest permanent collection of any two-year college in the state of Illinois. In addition to paintings, photography, and pre-Columbian artifacts, the outdoor sculptures and collection were mostly acquired through private donation and funds from the Illinois Art in Architecture program.

The art center features exhibitions by professional artists within its four galleries every six to eight weeks, offers arts education programming, and hosts concerts and related cultural events.^[3]

Shrine in St. Clair County, Illinois. The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows is a Catholic shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Belleville, Illinois, nine miles southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. The Shrine's director is the Reverend Father David Uribe, OMI. The shrine is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville, but it is operated by the United States Province of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The Shrine name refers to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, where legend says snow fell in the summertime.

One of the largest outdoor shrines in North America, it includes a restaurant, a hotel, an apartment complex for retired persons, a residence for the Oblates, a visitors and conference center, and a large gift shop. During Advent and Christmas, the Shrine hosts the "Way of Lights", an outdoor light display that features over 1.1 million white lights and attracts over 350,000 visitors annually. During the Summer months, people from all over the World gather to worship and pray during the Our Lady of the Snows Healing and Hope Novena.

The Oblates make possible a number of spiritual and family programs for the enrichment of the local community, for the Midwest region, and for North America. The Shrine's Youth Ministry, Adult Spirituality, Hispanic Ministry, Liturgy, and Events Departments host a variety of programs year-round, tailored to meet the needs of the Shrine's many pilgrims.

The Shrine also includes a church, a natural outdoor amphitheater, Stations of the Cross, a Resurrection Garden, a depiction of the Lourdes Grotto, an Annunciation Garden and a devotional site for Our Lady of Guadalupe. In January 2021, the Shrine Guesthouse went under renovation and had its interior painted.^[4]

Hotel Belleville is a historic hotel building at 16 S. Illinois Street in Belleville, Illinois. The hotel was built in 1930–31 to replace the city's previous hotel, the Belleville House; like its predecessor, the hotel marketed itself as the most luxurious and modern hotel in Belleville. Architects Manske & Bartling designed the building in the Art Deco style; their design included first-floor window bays with terra cotta blocks, brick pilasters above the entrance, ornamental brickwork on the upper floors, and a parapet. The hotel's amenities included a restaurant and cocktail lounge, banquet and event space, office space for community organizations, and storefronts for local businesses. In the decades after it opened, the building served both as a center of Belleville's social life and a home for regional conventions. The hotel operated until 1961, when it was converted to an assisted living facility for the elderly.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 20, 2018.^[5]

Auditorium in Belleville, Illinois. The Turkey Hill Grange Hall is a historic Grange hall located at 1375 E. Illinois Route 15 in Belleville, Illinois. Built in 1937, the hall was the third used by the Turkey Hill Grange #1370, which was founded in 1874. As part of the National Grange, the Turkey Hill chapter served both as a political advocacy group for farmers' interests and a social group for isolated rural residents. While the 1937 hall follows the national organization's suggestions for Grange hall design, the chapter also hired local architecture firm Rubach & Weisenstein to create the building's Neoclassical design, an uncommon practice for a Grange hall. The hall is still in use by the Grange, which is the oldest Grange chapter in St. Clair County; the hall itself is one of the few historic Grange halls in Illinois still standing and in good condition.

The hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 27, 2016.^[6]

The Blair Historic District is a historic district located in downtown Belleville, Illinois. The district encompasses a mainly commercial area on the west side of the downtown area; it includes 78 buildings, 57 of which are contributing buildings. The entire district is located within the original plat of the city, which was established following a land donation from George Blair in 1813. The oldest buildings in the district date to circa 1850; development continued from then on into the early twentieth century. Most buildings in the district are two-part brick commercial blocks designed in popular contemporary styles such as the Italianate, Second Empire, Classical Revival, and Romanesque Revival. The Reichert Business Block, a three-story structure at 200 West Main Street, has a particularly significant Second Empire design; the building features a mansard roof with dormers and a decorative cornice and has been described as the district's most elaborate building. Two Classical Revival buildings, the 1911 United States Post Office Building and the 1924 Turner Hall, also have a commanding presence in the district; the post office was designed by Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor.

The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 2015.^[7]

The Gustave Koerner House is a historic house located at 200 Abend Street in Belleville, Illinois. The Greek Revival house was built in 1848-49 and rebuilt in 1854–55 after a fire. Gustave Koerner, a German immigrant and prominent Illinois politician, lived in the house from its construction to his death in 1896. Koerner served as Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, sat on the Illinois Supreme Court, and was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives. He was also a political ally of Abraham Lincoln during his senatorial and presidential campaigns and convinced many German-American voters to support Lincoln. During the Civil War, Koerner served as United States Minister to Spain and thereafter mounted a failed campaign for Governor of Illinois.

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 17, 2004. It was converted in 1984 and is currently separated into rental units.^[8]

The Knobeloch–Seibert Farm is a historic farm located on the east side of Schneider Road east of Belleville, Illinois. The farm was established circa 1832 by John W. Knobeloch and his family; after passing through several generations of the Knobeloch family, it was inherited by Henry Seibert. Both the Knobeloch and Seibert families immigrated to the area from Germany as part of a wave of German immigration to Illinois' American Bottom region in the early 1800s. The first building on the farm was a farmhouse built in 1832, which no longer stands; the oldest surviving building on the farm is the 1844 barn. The second farmhouse, constructed in 1861, features a segmented arched brick cellar, a characteristic feature of German vernacular architecture.

The farm was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 9, 1983.^[9]

The Belleville Historic District is a historic district in Belleville, Illinois. The primarily residential district consists of an irregularly shaped area on the east side of Belleville. 70 buildings are included in the district, all of which are contributing buildings to its historic character. The homes in the district represent Belleville's residential development from 1830 to 1900. Many of the houses were designed in a vernacular cottage style popular among the city's German immigrants; while common in Belleville and other Metro-East cities, the style is little seen elsewhere in the state. Formal architectural styles such as Greek Revival and Italianate are also prevalent in the district.

The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1976.^[10]

University in Belleville, Illinois. The Belleville Learning Center, previously known as Lindenwood University–Belleville and Lindenwood Belleville, is a defunct satellite campus of Lindenwood University. It offered evening postgraduate and undergraduate classes for about 300 students. Belleville Learning Center is located in Belleville, Illinois, and occupies the former campus of Belleville West High School. Beginning in 2009, Lindenwood University–Belleville offered traditional four-year undergraduate programs and the school gained independent accreditation in 2011, becoming a member of the Lindenwood University system and functioning as a sister-school to Lindenwood University. The undergraduate program was discontinued in 2020 and the Belleville Learning Center returned to its status as a satellite campus of Lindenwood University.

In October 2021, it was announced the City of Belleville was buying the property of the shuttered learning center^[11]