As I once remarked while surveying the burnt out ruins of Fourth Baptist in Old North St. Louis, it almost doesn’t matter if the fire that recently destroyed one of the few precious contributing buildings on East St. Louis’s Collinsville Avenue was intentional or merely an accident.

Since it appears to have been abandoned for years, the real culprit is neglect. If East St. Louis is ever to rise from the ashes of its current state, it wouldn’t hurt to have its still beautiful if slightly dilapidated downtown around to lead the way.