1929 Pizza & Wine paves the way for a downtown’s reinvention.

If you drive over the McKinley Bridge to Illinois and take a walk around the downtown district of Wood River, you’ll see the scattered remnants of what was once a bustling town. Historic buildings that previously housed mom-and-pop shops are falling into disrepair. Ferguson Avenue, its main street, was busy a mere decade ago, but is almost empty today; a well-known local shoe store, Cleary’s, is one of the few surviving businesses. But the residents of Wood River will not let their historic downtown simply disappear. Instead, they cling to a bright beacon of hope: 1929 Pizza & Wine.

Matt and Amy Herren opened 1929 Pizza & Wine in Wood River in late 2022. The restaurant is a product of their life experiences and collaborative efforts with locals. Matt and Amy – who also founded 222 Artisan Bakery and Goshen Coffee, and Fond and Township Grocer, respectively – had been traveling for years, and they were looking to come home to the St. Louis metro area. In February 2022, they were looking for a space to house a wholesale bagel operation. They met with Brad Wells, Wood River’s chief of police and the head of the local zoning commission. Wells’ primary rule for new businesses is that they can’t just use the town’s buildings as warehouses or for production: They have to offer something directly to customers. “Wells said, ‘I will require you to have a retail front. If we’re going to save our downtown, it has to have an active retail [operation]. It has to drive people here,’” Amy Herren says. Wells offered them a deal: Take this burned-down building, turn it into a restaurant and we’ll find you a home for your bagel shop.

With the help of local developer Tom DeClue III, the Herrens and the town turned the derelict, burnt ruins into a thriving restaurant. Walk into 1929 Pizza & Wine today, and you’ll be greeted by an open, airy space with high ceilings and plenty of windows and natural light. You’ll see shelves upon shelves of wine bottles, large communal dining tables, aged Campari posters and a massive wood-operated pizza oven emblazoned with “il cibo è amore,” Italian for “food is love.”

The menu is brief, but every item on it is crafted with care. Matt Herren, whose background is in baking, handles the bread and the pizza dough, while Amy Herren embellishes this perfectly executed dough with an array of fresh produce, handmade mozzarella and other high-quality ingredients. She also makes the Italian sausage in-house. The menu reflects the lessons the Herrens have learned from their past ventures. “[At Fond], it was very limited; I had five apps, five entrées,” Amy Herren says. She would change the menu daily. “Here, they’re gonna order the same pizza every single time because they found the menu [item] that speaks to them. And that’s okay … Before, I would’ve changed the menu every week, whereas now, it’s way smarter.”

The pizza options are proof of the Herrens’ approach to operating in a small town that hasn’t been home to a restaurant like 1929 before now; they seek to strike a balance between approachability and adventure. There are the classics – the pepperoni and the sausage and peppers – and the more experimental pizzas, like the Greens: walnut pesto, wilted kale, Parmesan, red pepper flakes, lemon, olive oil and toasted walnuts.

Opening a restaurant with delicious pizzas is not enough to help regrow a struggling economy, and the Herrens know this. Before tips, all of their employees earn at least $16 an hour. “All these kids work for us because we’re living-wage accredited; they’re averaging $40 an hour,” Matt Herren says. “It’s not awesome; it’s appropriate. For the work that we’re doing, for being on your feet, for all the hard work we do, you should be paid appropriately.” The couple views the act of providing a living wage as not only a moral imperative but also as an economic engine for Wood River. “If you’re trying to revitalize, you can’t just revitalize from the top. You have to take the people who live here and provide them with a living, so they can spend money in these places you want,” Amy Herren adds.

Although the restaurant has become a popular dinner spot for Wood River residents, it also brings outside visitors to town. Matt Herren estimates that nearly 65 percent of their customers come from Edwardsville and other parts of Illinois; they regularly also attract diners from St. Louis – and other businesses and restaurateurs are taking notice of this traffic.

“We’re getting these inquiries now that we had not gotten in a very long time … Even from some of the other towns that say, ‘Hey, what buildings do you have available?’” Wells says. It’s clear to see that 1929 has been a successful public litmus test proving to other entrepreneurs that Wood River is a town worth investing in.

Wells dreams of Wood River’s downtown someday resembling a quainter version of the Delmar Loop: walkable, bustling with people and full of local businesses, eateries and shops. And the whole town is working together to make this vision a reality. Whether it’s changing outdated zoning laws that impede renovations or ensuring a dedicated bike trail runs through downtown to attract cyclists, locals and city officials are opening the doors of opportunity. “The city has always been upfront and really honest and really easy to work with,” Amy Herren says. “It’s been an amazing experience.”

1929 will not be the Herrens’ only contribution to Wood River’s local economy. C & B Boiled Bagels, their wholesale-focused bagel business (with a retail storefront), is set to open in early April. As Matt Herren will happily tell you, “We don’t want Wood River to become the Matt and Amy show; that’s not our thing … We’re 50 years old; that’s not our focus. Our focus is how we start bringing people back together and communicating.” As experienced business owners, they have brainstormed concepts and financial plans that they would love to share with first-time restaurant owners. “We’re just looking for good operators,” Amy Herren says. “We would just literally hand them the road map. I don’t want anything for it … We’ll help you keep the bumpers on.”

Within the next two years, town officials hope for six to 10 other small businesses to open their doors in Wood River. The town in recent years has been called “Hood River.” The Herrens, their employees and the town itself are on a mission to change its moniker to a term Amy Herren coined: “Good River.”

The town’s greatest resource is its passionate, caring and thoughtful people; the Herrens agree that with this resource in abundance, there’s no limit to what Wood River can become.

1929 Pizza & Wine, 7 N. Wood River Ave., Wood River, Illinois, 618-216-2258, 1929pizzaandwine.com