
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A more than century-old school building that has been the source of numerous complaints for vandalism and illegal dumping is set to be torn down this winter.
The old Rock River Elementary School, which operated from 1911 until 2004, will be razed by N-Trak Group of Loves Park as part of a deal with the city to help remove the deteriorating and blighted property.
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The demolition company will tear down and clean up the property at no cost to the city under the deal. The property at 2729 Kishwaukee Street on the south side will then be given to N-Trak Group to use or sell.
N-Trak, which handles multiple demolition projects for the city each year, said it has no set plans for the property. It entered into the agreement in order to help the city remove a longstanding source of complaints, said Danielle Schlichting, president of N-Trak Group.
“We’re from the Rockford area and we’re invested in to any development or cleanup efforts that we can help the city accomplish,” Schlichting said. “This has been one that we know in talking to the city over the years has continually been a problem property, so it’s one that we decided to take on this year to help.”
The property is now publicly owned by the Winnebago County trustee after it was abandoned and taxes went unpaid for years. The trustee program is designed to remove properties from a perpetual state of blight and get them into the hands of responsible owner and taxpayers.

The property was purchased for $171,000 by Fountain of Life Church of God in Christ in April 2005 during a Rockford Public Schools auction, according to Rockford Register Star archives.
But the building was never put back into use. In 2011, the church’s pastor was convicted of federal bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud and bank fraud charges and sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
The property, which has numerous broken and boarded-up windows, has been the site of suspicious fires and other property crimes over the years.
The property has been owned by the trustee program for the past four years after being obtained over unpaid taxes. City Administrator Todd Cagnoni said it’s important to remove the problem property for safety reasons. He also said that stretch of Kishwaukee has seen recent industrial investment including Viking Chemical Co. taking over former Rockford Products space.
“We’ve had a number of citizen and alderman inquiries related to the removal of the site,” Cagnoni said. “We have a lot of dumping that takes place on this property, and it’s clearly deteriorated to a significant point where it needs to be demolished.”

N-Trak plans to move forward with demolition as soon as possible as its schedule allows.
“Winter is coming up and that’s good for us for demolition work because then roadwork and our normal construction work is all coming to an end,” Schlichting said. “Demolition can still continue during the winter.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas