PERU – Crafters Village gift and craft shop, a popular destination for local crafters and antiquers, was destroyed by fire Monday evening.
The Illinois Fire Marshal’s official report on the cause was not available Thursday.
It took the Peru Fire Department and members of eight others that responded until 4:30 a.m. Tuesday to douse the blaze.
Two firefighters sustained minor injures related to icy conditions caused by the water spray and the near-zero temperatures.
The business was closed at the time of the fire, and it appears no one was inside, officials said.
The 47,000-square-foot metal building was owned by Frank and Sherryl Allen of LaSalle. It was built in 1974 as the Ivy Racquet and Health Club.
In addition to Crafters Village, it housed an indoor pool used by the City of Peru, St. Margaret’s Health of Spring Valley, the Lighted Way Association and an indoor tennis court leased by a local tennis players’ club.