Learning that the Citizens’ National Bank was going to be demolished, and hoping maybe I could coax some important architectural elements from the crews working there, I headed up to East Alton on a recent Saturday.

East Alton is an interesting town, with parts from the Nineteenth Century but also with clear signs of a large building boom in the post-war era. There is a very cool Modernist civic center.

Many of the strip malls on the way to the bank, which I looked at back in May of 2016, still contained large amounts of vacancy.

There wasn’t much happening when I went by.

There are some nice houses nearby.

Unfortunately, by the time I reached the site of the former Citizens’ National Bank, it was far too late to salvage anything interesting from the ruins.

Demolished down to the basement level, I assume that everything is gone by now.

I am curious that after almost a decade, if not more, they finally chose this fall to finally do the deed.