SR0644 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0644 LRB103 35654 LAW 65729 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate wish to congratulate the Gail Borden Public Library District on the occasion of its 150th anniversary; and

WHEREAS, After the Illinois legislature passed the Free Library Act on March 7, 1872, the Elgin community was the first in the State to vote "yes" to create a public library, opening the Elgin Library in 1874 in a building located where the Tower Building now stands; and

WHEREAS, The Elgin Library moved to a home fitting the city's growing stature in the early 1890s when Alfred and Samuel Church donated a mansion at Spring Street and Highland Avenue for its use with the only proviso that it be renamed the Gail Borden Public Library after their stepfather, who made his fortune by inventing a new way to condense milk and built the Elgin Milk Condensing Co. in the city because it was where his second wife once lived; and

WHEREAS, The Gail Borden Public Library remained at 50 North Spring Street until the early 1970s, when the Gail Borden Public Library District was created and a new library was built at the southwest corner of Kimball Street and Grove Avenue; and

WHEREAS, As the community grew, so did demand for the Gail Borden Public Library District's services; the library district's current downtown facility opened at 270 North Grove Avenue, across from its prior location, in October 2003; the Rakow Branch on Bowes Road in Elgin followed in August 2009, and the South Elgin Branch on South McLean Boulevard opened in July 2016; and

WHEREAS, The Gail Borden Public Library District serves 149,907 residents in Elgin, South Elgin, and portions of Hoffman Estates, Streamwood, and Bartlett, with 60.5% of residents being cardholders, making it the second largest library district in Illinois for population served; and

WHEREAS, The Gail Borden Public Library District has received a number of awards, including the 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Services, the nation's highest recognition for American libraries, and being named the 2010 Elgin Hispanic Network Organization of the Year; and

WHEREAS, The Gail Borden Public Library Foundation is hosting a kick-off event to the library district's 150th anniversary celebration at its downtown location on December 8, 2023; the library district will be holding various programs and presentations throughout the year to commemorate the sesquicentennial; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the Gail Borden Public Library District on its 150th anniversary, and we wish the library district continued success in its endeavors to best serve its community and visitors; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Gail Borden Public Library District as an expression of our esteem and respect.