Group fights to preserve bank building

EAST CHICAGO, IND. -- Preservationists are worried that a stately bank where gangster John Dillinger was accused of pulling off a $20,000 caper in the 1930s will be robbed of its historical value.\nChicago-based developer Interra Equities has begun the process to get a demolition permit for the 85-year-old East Chicago First National Bank and Trust. Developers hope to make way for a Walgreens store.\nErica Taylor, director of the Indiana Historic Landmarks Foundation office in Calumet, said her office is working to get the bank on the National Registry of Landmarks, a move that would save it.\n"We're sort of stuck at this point," Taylor said. "The Historic Landmarks Foundation is strong, but I don't know what else we can do."\nDillinger, once dubbed Public Enemy No. 1, was one of the most notorious bank robbers of the Depression era. He was shot to death by FBI agents outside a Chicago theater in 1934.\nIf the foundation is successful in getting the bank on the registry, Walgreens could still build within the existing structure, said Michael Polzin, a spokesman for the chain.\n"Just because a building is old doesn't make it historic," he said. "This building is obsolete."\nGilbert Diaz, the city's building commissioner, said developers have approached him with an affidavit and proof of ownership, the first step in procuring a demolition permit.