Volunteers work to save historic home damaged by arson

By Alexis Zotos

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    ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — The Reeb House has stood on North St. Charles Street in Florissant since 1870. This past February, police said the man renting the home attempted to burn it down.

Now there’s an effort by Historic Florissant, a local nonprofit, to save the home.

“A lot of people don’t know Florissant is as old as St. Genevieve,” said Gina Siebe, president of Historic Florissant.

Last February, police arrested and charged Daniel Gove with arson, accusing him of setting his rental home on fire. Thanks to an observant neighbor and the fast actions of the Florissant Fire Department, the majority of the damage was contained to the back of the house.

The property owner said the cost to repair the house was too much, so the nonprofit stepped in to save the historic structure.

Volunteers and members of Missouri Women in Trade joined together this weekend to remove the debris and fire-damaged parts of the home.

Next they’ll have an architect give them the full scope of the work that needs to be done. They expect they’ll need to raise $100,000 to restore the home to the point where it could return to a single-family dwelling.

“If we don’t save our historic structures, we lose our history,” said Siebe.

Historic Florissant is looking for donations and help to ensure the full restoration of the Reeb House.

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