Bert Odelson, the attorney for Dalton who organized the contract, told USA Today that the House owners have agreed to sell at a private price amid the threat of Dalton taking the home through prominent territory.
“One of Ours”: Chicago celebrates Pope Leo XIV’s election
Chicago residents and leaders of the Archdiocese of Chicago are celebrating the election of the Pope Native People.
DALTON, Illinois – The small settlement where Pope Leo XIV was raised on July 1st, is a move that hopes to cause a revival of a devastated small town after a village committee approved the purchase of the home he grew up in.
The Dalton Village Board approved the purchase at a special meeting on July 1st, marking a small town coup that it had experienced over decades amid manufacturing employment and the former corrupt mayor. Many thought Dalton had no money or political will to land a small ranch house in which he played the priest as a young Robert Francis Prevost.
“We can grab this moment and move forward or go to investors,” Mayor Jason House addressed the crowd at a public meeting. “We can’t get out of the deficit. We need to make sure we have financial opportunities.”
Leo’s predecessor’s childhood home has also become a museum and a pilgrimage site, attracting hundreds of thousands of people. Leo’s house is also expected to become a museum and shrine, USA Today previously reported.
People all over the country already treat it as a pilgrimage site. It began arriving within hours of the announcement that Leo had become Pope on May 8th.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
According to the list, approval for Dalton’s purchase is also surprising. According to the list, the house was on sale at an auction that is scheduled to close on July 17th.
Village lawyer Bert Odelson, who organized the deal, told USA Today that the homeowner agreed to sell it outside of auction.
Paramount Realty, a New York-based auction known for selling President Donald Trump’s childhood home for more than $2 million, did not immediately respond to USA Today’s request for comment. Homeowner Paweł Radzik also did not respond immediately.
Odelson refused to share the final price, but said it was “significantly lower than what they thought they’d get.” He said he had set aside funds for the purchase and the documents would be completed in about a week.
A well-known Chicago lawyer said the owner agreed to sell in response to the threat of Dalton taking the home through prominent territory.
Odelson described the coup as a cap rock in his decades-long career.
“Even for me, I’ve done so much and I’ve seen a lot, so this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said the Chicago Southside native. “I dealt with the president, the senator, the mayor, and there’s always something else. Not this. He’s the only American.”
Residents question the project
Several Dalton residents at the meeting questioned the village’s plans to buy Leo’s home.
Dalton has experienced decades in the loss of manufacturing jobs. The village has recently become a symbol of dysfunction under the previous mayor who led the city to more than $3.5 million in debt.
“It’s commendable to buy a Pope’s residence, but in the state we are in now, do we have money? “In my opinion, a house demands money every day, so the house is a pimp.”
Other residents raised issues regarding funding for basic urban infrastructure, including sewerage, storefronts and roads.
“We need to be aware of the issues the city has,” said Rev. Ryan Reese, another resident. “There’s a difficult situation where you’re finding your community’s finances… you’re basically overcoming gravel right now.”
Can Leo’s house save Dalton?
Members of Dalton’s board say Leo’s home is already causing a small town revival.
“If we can see traffic over there, certain bus roads inside and outside our town, this is a great opportunity for us,” Councilman Edward Steve said. “This is historical.”
Steve said the village leaders are well aware of the challenges facing Dalton, but added that they can deal with them and turn the house into a destination.
Dalton’s population was booming when Leo lived there. According to census data, the village grew from 5,000 in 1950 (the year after Leo’s parents bought the family home) to 19,000 in 1960.
Chicago and northwest Indiana have united a wealth of factory jobs, from steel factories behind the buildings that form the hub of industry and make up the city’s iconic skyline to automotive factories that assemble Fords cruising along Lakeshore Drive.
However, many factories closed in the 1980s. The average household income in 1980 was $27,000, or $107,000 for $2025, reported the Chicago Tribune. Census data shows that today’s average income is under $30,000.
According to census data, about a fifth of Dalton’s population is in poverty.
Pope John Paul II’s house was a godsend for a small town
According to Piotr Pollack, a guide to the museum of John Paul’s childhood home, Wadowice, a town in Poland where Pope John Paul II grew up, has benefited greatly.
“There are at least dozens of Wadwas-like towns in southern Poland,” Polack told USA Today from Poland. “None of them has attracted hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world.”
Pollack said it was a tenement museum that was opened in 1984 by Karol Watiwa at the time. According to Pollack, around 200,000 people visit the museum every year.
“If JP2 weren’t there, there would be no one here from outside the local area,” the guide said. “One of the biggest blessings the town has is the fact that Karol Wotiwa spent the first 18 years of his life here.”
The house where Leo played the priest
The house Leo grew up with his two brothers is a squat brick house on a lush suburban block. He appears to be countless others who rose across the country during the post-war era.
Leo’s parents took him to a modest home, according to Cook County property records. Leo lived there and moved to high school and to a seminary in Michigan.
According to Cook County Real Estate Records, Razic bought the 1,050-square-foot home in 2024 for $66,000. He updated the interior so it no longer looked like when Leo lived with his two brothers. Radzik had planned to sell the house for $219,000, but within days of Leo’s becoming Pope he removed his property from the market.
Village leaders acknowledge the difficulties of the job of turning the updated home into a Pope’s destination. But they expect hundreds of thousands of people to visit each year, and they hope that it will change the area for better people.
“It’s exciting to see people coming from different states and the world to go to this area and see the pope’s home,” Councillor Tammy Brown said. “If those neighbors see what we’re trying to do, it would encourage them to do things too.”
