Column: Though still an eyesore, dream remains for former Aurora Township home of artist Charles Smith

One of Charles Smith’s sculptures can be seen among the rubble of his former property at 126 S. Kendall St. that has recently been fenced in by Aurora Township after complaints about the safety of the area. Lack of funding has halted a construction project that would renovate this property many consider a unique and compelling part of Aurora’s history.

Over the years I’ve chronicled some of the challenges Aurora Township and Kane County have faced with the property when Smith owned it, as well as those Rodgers ran into. For one, the current owner found a surprising amount of reluctance from local and Chicago groups to invest in this restoration project that had become little more than a dilapidated structure on a rubble-filled lot in Aurora Township.

With $56,800 from Kane County’s Grand Victoria Riverboat Fund that, according to a 2021 fiscal report, was intended “for partial demolition and rehabilitation of existing facility,” Rodgers began digging out a basement. But since then, the project has again stalled for lack of cash and, in doing so, became an even more dangerous eyesore.

Aurora Township installed fencing around the perimeter of 126 S. Kendall St. after complaints the property, once the studio and home of Black folk artist Charles Smith, had become dangerous. The goal of the current owner is to build a community resource center and headquarters there for the African American Men of Unity group that would also have space for a museum to showcase the work of Black artists.

“We were in the process of digging the basement and had to stop because we could not move forward without more funds to get that done,” he said recently.“But that leaves us with a mess,” he said, “because we are not moving forward.”

Source: Real Estate Daily Report (realestatedailyreport.net)

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