Sioux City History and Culture by Bicycle Part 158; The Death of the John Rochel House

Because of a project to build a new high school by the catholic school districts, supported by the catholic diocese in Sioux City an important part of Sioux City's history is being destroyed. mid-town holding llc bought the property and is the developer who is destroying an entire neighborhood. It is not known whether or not they were hired by the private school district to buy and destroy this entire historic neighborhood for a new school campus. There is also no guarantee at all whether or not a new school campus will be built. This land may sit empty for years to come.

This is very disturbing and aggravating. Sure the neighborhood is not that great and is run down. It is where people with out a lot of income live. They make do with what they have and do the best they can and most of the properties are rentals. But this is no reason for a developer, a private school or a religious organization entity to destroy an important part of Sioux City's history. All this shows if someone has the money they can do pretty much what ever they want. I think the catholic school district and diocese needs to remember a certain historical figure, William L. Steele, responsible for a lot of Sioux City's history in the 1900's that helped them become the church and school district they are today. I imagine Steele is rolling over in his grave if he knows what the school district and diocese that he once did work for is doing. I think he would say shame on you for destroying an important part of Sioux City that he himself helped design. While there may be no Steele designed buildings in the neighborhood that has been leveled and while Steele did not design the John Rochel House he did design a lot of buildings in the surrounding area.

The catholic school district and diocese in question could have easily built their new school, which will no doubt be an ugly monstrosity in a different location. The developer and the catholic school district are not done leveling some of Sioux City's history. The have yet to level an area further north and west of what they already have. I wonder how big of a darn campus does one school district really need? There is plenty of other land that is either empty or has empty buildings on it with no historical value that the private school district and the developer could have purchased for the new campus. Why didn't they? The City of Sioux City is also involved in this, yet because it is not a public project, the public is not informed of it. However one group that is informed of it, the historical preservation commission is given only a 30 day notice, not nearly enough time, to go in and document what they can and if at all possible save the important historical structures that are otherwise razed.

I am going to find out more info on how much historical value the surrounding are had and how much the area that has yet to be leveled has.

Some other ways to look at this, for those that don't think one house or a neighborhood has significant historical value is think about other buildings in your area. How would you feel if some developer bought the property and wanted to level it to build something else. Now go further and compare this to an entire neighborhood. Now go outside of your community and compare it to an historical county, state and federal or National Landmark or building. Where does it stop? I don't know, but I can tell you where it starts. In the local area. Next this will happen at the county level, then state and eventually the federal or national level.

Another thing to consider is a lot of the tenants who are renting won't see a dime of the money being offered by the developer and they have no money to relocate. This will impact the economy and put a further burden on a bad situation with the economy. When a developer and a private school district destroys an entire neighborhood such as it is, run down or not, it is not progress or good sound development. It is a mistake.

There a total of 4 entities who share in the responsibility for destroying this historical part of Sioux City's past. Up until now I have talked about 3 of them, the developer, the catholic school district and the catholic diocese. The 4th is the former owners of the properties that have been or are going to be purchased by the developer. These owners sold out a very large and important piece of Sioux City's past. Apparently nothing is sacred anymore in the name of progress and some people have a price at which they will sell regardless of the consequences of doing so. Just as developers will buy at any price, again despite the consequences. In all honesty I sincerly hope the private school district is unable to raise the rest of the mone and the school is never built. I also hope the developer is unable to sell the properties to anyone and loses their shirt over it. It would be poetic justice. How? Well John Rochel lost his shirt in the late 1800's during the depression of the time that hit. As a result he was forced to move to another less ornate home on Summit St, not to far from his original home.

Some of the people who support this effort, to destroy an entire historic neighborhood in Sioux City, feel buying these properties, destroying an entire historical area of Sioux City's past is a good idea because they think a majority of the people who live in this neighborhood are either on drugs or part of some sort of criminal element. When asked to provide statistical proof of this they rebutted with they do not need to do so because they witnessed this for themselves. Granted it may be true that they witnessed some sort of criminal behavior, I am hard pressed to believe a majority of the people who reside in this area of Sioux City are drug addicts or criminals. I refuse to believe that until statistical proof is provided showing this to be true. Granted on the other side of the coin I have no proof that a majority of the people who live there are not criminals or are not on drugs. Then again I have never claimed nor will ever claim that they are not on drugs or are not criminals unless I have proof. I really dislike it when someone makes a bold statement and uneducated statement, such as "90% of the people are on drugs or criminals", with out any sort of proof. Yes this area does have an/or attract part, not all, of the city's criminal element. But that does not mean everyone living there is a criminal as some people have suggested. A lot of these people are decent hard working individuals who are trying to live their lives, provide for their families and are doing what they can to get by. The last thing they need is to be uprooted and left on their own to relocate.

Please note in this blog post I have not, nor will I name the catholic school district or diocese that is doing this and the name of the developer is in lower case letters. This is my way of showing disrespect toward both entities. I have no respect at all toward the developer and have lost a lot of respect for the catholic diocese and school district because of this. In fact I am debating with myself whether or not I will continue working with the archivist at the diocese office in my research in to the history of the catholic church in Sioux City. In the course of my research I was being loaned documents that I digitally scanned and when I returned the documents I would include a copy of the digital scans on a CD, thus helping to further preserve the documents. Now because of this I am not sure if I will continue with that effort.

I usually try not to interject my personal feelings and opinions in these historical posts. But this one I had to say something about and express my concern, attitude and disgust toward what is happening.

Obituary for the John Rochel House;
Born/Built/Created/Constructed Date; 1881
Death/Destruction/Demolition/Razed Date; July 10, 2009
Preceded in death by who knows how many other historical buildings in this area all in the name of so called progress.
After 128 years of life may the John Rochel rest in piece, or rather pieces.

Here is a link to the article about the death of the John Rochel House.;
Efforts to save 1881-era house fall short

This brings to mind a commercial I hear or see every now and then about preserving the local history of our communities. In the radio version you hear someone talking about the place they got married, it goes something like this; "My husband and I got married at the gas station on the corner." There is a pause between before the words gas station because if you have never heard the commercial before you expect the person to say church. A similar commercial talks about an historical school building that goes something like; "I went to school at the shopping mall on (enter street name here)." Again there is a pause before the words shopping mall because you expect to hear the person say the name of the school. I can imagine at some point in the near future people who grew up in this neighborhood and lived in these houses, including the John Rochel house will say something to the effect of; "I grew up and/or lived in the new (enter name of the private school)." Or something similar if the school is not built. Again I ask where will it stop?

Here are the photo's I took of this beautiful and historic house and the surrounding area. Keep in mind these will likely be the last photo's that have possibly been taken of the house before it is destroyed. The houses in the back ground, some of whcih could be historical homes, may soon be gone as well.;