Belleville bar to make a comeback, thanks to two sisters who love family and history

What started with family nostalgia has evolved into two major historic-renovation projects for a Belleville woman.

Two years ago, Barb Swantner bought a two-story brick home on Abend Street that her great-great-grandfather built in the 1870s and that her family owned for more than 100 years. She began the task of restoring it from apartments back into a single-family residence.

This summer, Swantner and an investor bought another historic building half a block away on Mascoutah Avenue. They plan to reopen a restaurant and bar with help from Swantner’s sister, Beth Rund.

“It’s going to be called Charlie’s Off Main,” Rund said recently. “That’s what the previous owners called it, and we thought that was a recognizable name. People know Charlie’s.”

Charlie Wilson opened the original Charlie’s in 1985 and sold it in 1999 to Mike Whitaker, who revamped it in 2018 and renamed it Charlie’s Off Main. It closed a year and a half later.

Last week, Belleville City Council granted Swantner two special-use permits, one for a liquor license and one for outdoor seating, as well as a use variance so the upper level of the two-story brick storefront can be converted into apartments, called Charlie’s Lofts.

Swantner, 63, and Rund, 67, realize that some people think they’re crazy for taking on such a big challenge at an age when most retirees want to travel, spend time with grandchildren or just relax.

Swantner lived in Missouri for more than 25 years. By moving into the Abend Street home, she also was making a lifestyle change.

What was Swantner thinking?

“I don’t know,” she said, laughing. “My youngest was out of the house. That meant I could come back to Belleville. It just seemed like the thing to do. I love the house. It’s just very interesting. It’s back in the family. We spent a lot of time there with Grandma. We were born there.”

Swantner was referring to the fact that her parents, Adolph “Junior” and Dorothy Knebelkamp, lived in one of the home’s three apartments until the 1960s, when they moved elsewhere in Belleville.

Swantner is semi-retired, working part time as a physical therapist and real-estate agent. She and Rund hope to reopen Charlie’s Off Main in late November, but it may be early next year.

Prohibition closed first saloon

The storefront at 200 Mascoutah Ave. is actually two buildings. Their lower-level walls were partially removed in the 1950s so the bar, then known as Corner Tavern, could be enlarged, according to Bob Brunkow, historian for Belleville Historical Society.

The oldest section was built in 1869 or the early 1870s by Henry Ehret, a German immigrant whose family also owned a brick factory in town. It housed their saloon until 1920, when Prohibition banned the sale of liquor.

“The saloon space was used for a variety of enterprises, including butcher shops, groceries, restaurants and florist John Miller,” Brunkow wrote in a history. “In 1945, Shorty’s Tavern opened, returning the oldest part of the building to its original commercial purpose.”

The second building to the north began as a one-story structure that housed a billiard parlor in the 1880s and ‘90s and later a barbershop, confectionery, restaurant, grocery store and novelty-machine business before the lower-level space became part of Corner Tavern.

The bar operated under the name Das Bierhaus in the 1970s and early ‘80s.

Today, the buildings are part of Old Belleville Historic District. That means renovation plans have to be approved by the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, which requires exteriors to retain their historical character.

“The neighbors are really, really looking forward to (the reopening),” said Linda Weisenstein, who lives in a German folk house nearby. “They have volunteered to help. They’re just so happy that they’ll be able to walk up to the corner and meet their friends.”

Inside, Swantner and Rund plan to preserve notable features, including the knotty-pine paneling, faux stained-glass pendant lamps with beer advertising and the L-shaped bar, which is upholstered in burgundy leather and stamped with Cs for Charlie’s.

The sisters are making the building handicap-accessible, enlarging and remodeling the bathrooms, replacing carpet and installing new electricity, plumbing, heating and air conditioning.

“I’m the unofficial director of health and housing,” said Rund, a retired nurse. “I’m going to make sure everything is clean and healthy.”

The restaurant and bar will offer burgers, “grown-up” grilled cheese and other sandwiches, pretzels and beer cheese and homemade daily specials, with Weisenstein as head chef. Beers served on tap will include Stag, which was originally brewed in Belleville.

A back room will be used as a gambling parlor with slot and poker machines.

“The city has been extremely helpful working with us,” Swantner said. “They want Charlie’s to open, for many reasons, including the tax revenue. They don’t want vacant buildings.”

German contractor and alderman

Swantner and Rund’s great-great-grandfather was Christian Knebelkamp, a German immigrant who became a prominent Belleville resident. He worked as a general contractor and served on the City Council.

Christian Knebelkamp paid $1,250 for a lot and a half in 1871, according to Brunkow. He later built the home at 211 Abend St., where he and his wife, Louise Knebelkamp, raised their 11 children.

“It’s a fascinating house,” Brunkow said. “He remodeled it sometime around 1910. The porch is from that time period. It’s a different style and, while I can’t prove it, it looks to me like there might have been a lot of alterations to the eaves to give it kind of a colonial-revival look.”

Christian Knebelkamp didn’t become a U.S. citizen when he immigrated as a small child in the 1850s, which eventually came back to haunt him. During World War I, he was ousted from the City Council.

“Enemy alien alderman refuses to resign his position; is removed,” read a 1918 headline in the BND, then called the Belleville Daily News-Democrat.

Christian Knebelkamp obtained citizenship, ran for City Council again and lost. He died in 1922. The family later turned the home into three apartments. Junior and Dorothy Knebelkamp lived in one of them from 1946 to 1961. Swantner and Rund remember their father going to Corner Tavern.

“That was our connection to the bar,” Rund said. “Dad would just walk across the street and play pool and drink beer. He was a good customer.”

The last family member to live in the home was Swantner and Rund’s grandmother, Elizabeth Knebelkamp, who died in the 1970s. Junior Knebelkamp died in 1987. Dorothy Knebelkamp, now 95, sold the property, including the original horse barn, in the 1990s.

The apartments sat vacant for about 10 years before Swantner bought them in 2021. Since that time, she’s been living in something of a construction zone while remodeling the main kitchen and bathroom, refinishing original pine floors and installing new windows.

Swantner also has dealt with delays due to supply-chain issues and the rising cost of materials.

“Now I have a fully functioning kitchen, and I’m getting used to living in a place that’s not finished, so I’m fine,” she said. “Ladders don’t even phase me anymore. I can’t wait to get it done, but I enjoy the house. The neighbors on Abend Street are amazing.”