Maple Tree Inn Vows To Rebuild Month After Devastating Fire

BLUE ISLAND, IL — The beloved Maple Tree Inn restaurant on Olde Western Avenue in Blue Island sustained significant damage in a devastating fire last month and will have to be demolished. But owners of the restaurant have vowed to rebuild it and continue to be a destination for diners throughout the South Side and south suburbs of Chicago.

“The Maple Tree Inn has had multiple, successful chapters and there will be many more," owners Katie Orr and Erich Wennberg said in a press statement. "Our team of employees is one of the best ever assembled in our 43 years of business and we will rebuild around them.”

Orr and Wennberg said the century-old building will be demolished in a few weeks due to the extent of the damage. A GoFundMe campaign to help the rebuild has raised more than $7,000 of a $200,000 goal. The owners' full statement can be found on the campaign page.

"Right now, we are asking for your help," it reads, in part. "The tremendous amount of property damage extends well beyond the business insurance limits and the uninsured losses are monumental. We are certain, that with your help, we can and will rebuild."

The owners praised the relationship they've formed over the years — and decades — with their loyal customers and employees.

“We are not just a restaurant, we are a family,” Aziel Esparza, lead server at Maple Tree for 13 years, said. Esparza is one of several employees of the restaurant who plan to return to their jobs once the rebuild is complete.

“Food is something that connects us to one another as people," Chef Mike Downs said. "I’ve never seen the life of a chef as a career, really, but rather a responsibility. A responsibility to connect."

It's still too early to determine a timetable for reopening.

Donate to the Maple Tree Inn GoFundMe here

Photo by Tim Moran / Patch