3319 West A St » Belleville Community Development Corporation

Sales History:
(Note: only data from 1995 onward is available online)
Jan 2018: $45,000 (BCDC)
Dec 2018: $115,000 (private party)

This house had a tragic event happen in it’s history. Also, the grandson of the founder of Ehret Plumbing and Heating, who later went on to run the company, owned the house for a short period in the mid-1940s and the person who sold the BCDC this house in 2018 lived in this house since 1948.

The story starts in October 1923 when General Contractor George Reinhardt sold the lot to Frank Schlechte. It is not clear if Reinhardt contracted to build the house as well.

George Reinhardt is the same person involved in the 1927 Illinois Supreme Court case concerning a Mechanics Lien on the previous house BCDC had renovated. In that case, the owners of that house had paid Reinhardt $4000 on 11/2/1923 to build their house. He paid Liese Lumber Company $1000 with that money, but didn’t tell Liese which house the money was for. Liese applied to to other past due bills Reinhardt owed. Liese then placed a lien on the house at 1120 Raab Ave.

It is not clear when Frank Schlechte sold this house to move to 4909 W Main St. It is also not clear who the house was sold to in 1928. The next deed transfer in the Belleville News Democrat was in 1939.

The 1935 Belleville City Directory shows Chas L Rickert living at 3319 Sylvia Av in 1935.

In October 1928, The Belleville News Democrat reported that Charles Rickert of 902 S Charles told police the spare tire was stolen from his car. In June 1929, The Belleville News Democrat reported that Charles Rickert of 3319 Sylvia was involved in a traffic accident. In February 1930, The Belleville News Democrat reported that Charles Rickert of 3319 Sylvia reported his car stolen from 5200 W Main. It was recovered two days later in Bircher Station.

In 1944 they were raising and selling rabbits.

Tragedy struck the Rickert family twice in the summer of 1946. The first time was in July when Mable Rickert’s Uncle died at home following a short illness. Her uncle had been living with them at the time.

The second occurred 2 months later in September when Mrs Rickert’s brother was visiting from Tennessee. While Mrs Rickert was showing her sister-in-law the upstairs rooms, her brother shot himself in the first floor hallway.

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John E Ehret was a 22 year-old pilot in the US Navy in September 1944 when he was shot down somewhere in the South Pacific. He was missing for a month before he was found safe. John E Ehret married Audrey Brosnan on 5/16/1947.

They bought this house from Charles Rickert in August 1947.

John Ehret was the grandson of Stephen Ehret, Sr, the founder of the Stephen Ehret Plumbing and Heating Company. The business was founded in 1903.

After Stephen Ehret, Sr died in 1941, two of his sons took over the business. John Ehret’s father, Elmer, was the senior partner.

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Elmer Ehret ran the company from the late 1930s until 1952. He died in 1953. His estate was split 50/50 between his wife, Mary, and son, John.

After his death, Elmer’s brother, Stephen R. Ehret, Jr was the senior partner and ran the company until 1970. The company is still in business today (2021) and run by their descendants.

On an unrelated side note, John Ehret’s mother, Mary, was the original owner of a house in the brand new Atlee Ogles Subdivision in July 1954. The house was one of the first houses built in the Atlee Ogles Subdivision. It is a 1050 sq ft 2 bedroom that was advertised in the BND in April 1954 for $21,000 (about $213K in June 2021). She must have just moved in when she was mentioned in the BND at that address in July 1954 when she become a grandmother.

The last mention of Lester Berkel and 3319 West A St in the online Belleville News Democrat archives was in July 1956 when Lester listed a car for sale.

A Google search shows that Lester Berkel died on 4/2/2017 at 92 years old. He worked at Stag Brewery in Belleville for 42 years. He would have been 64 when the Stag Brewery closed in September 1988.

Lester and Virginia were married 69 years, had 12 children and lived for 68 years in this house.

Virginia may still be alive, a search in August 2021 finds no obituary for her. Virginia was still alive when her sister died at 100 years old in February 2020.

The house was purchased by the BCDC from the “Lester and Virginia Berkel Trust” in January 2018.