MOLINE, Ill. — It's been more than three months since storms tore open the roof of the Belgrade bar along 16th Street in Moline, leaving the bar closed in the storm's wake.
Monday morning, demolition on the building built in 1907, officially began.
The bar has been shut down since the storms ripped off the roof. Roads around the bar have also been closed in the meantime to keep people away from the structure.
"I had my first legal drink in the state of Illinois at that bar," said lifelong Moline resident, Jackie Reid. "I even remember it when it wasn't the Belgrade, it was Fitzpatrick's."
"I remember coming here as a kid just sitting with friends and eating tacos most of the time," said Hanna Rusk. Her family is friends with the Belgrade owner.
"He was just saying how part of it he worked on last summer," Rusk said. "So after putting so much work into it, and then just now it all been demolished, It's crazy."
News 8 reached out to the Belgrade owner but he declined to comment. It's unclear why he didn't rebuild, or what will become of that space.
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