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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives wish to congratulate the Village of Montrose
4on the occasion of its sesquicentennial anniversary; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Montrose is located within the St. Francis
6Township of Effingham County and Spring Point Township of
7Cumberland County, with a population of 201 as of the 2010 U.S.
8Census; with the help of Calvin Mitchell, the Effingham County
9surveyor, the town was platted by J.B. Johnson and became
10official on July 19, 1870; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Montrose was originally named Spitler, or Spitler
12Corner, for early settler Wesley Spitler; it was founded due
13to its location along the National Road and the building of the
14St. Louis, Vandalia, and Terre Haute Railroad, later known as
15the Pennsylvania Railroad, which ran through Montrose and was
16completed in 1868; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Montrose's name is of medieval Scottish origin, a
18derivation of the French word "Mont" meaning "mountain" and
19"rose" meaning the flower or the color, possibly honoring the
20Scottish nobleman, poet, and general James Graham, the first
21Marques and fifth Earl of Montrose, who earned the title "The
22Great Montrose" for his military victories in the English

 

 

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1Civil War for King Charles I; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Montrose's early settlers were mainly German
3Roman Catholics from Westphalia and Oldenburg and Lutherans
4from Saxony, and they arrived by way of the National Road and
5included pioneer Abraham Marble, who arrived about 1845 and
6kept a relay house for stagecoaches; other early settlers
7included William Wallace in 1849, James Rolfe in 1850, and
8Thomas Gibbon in 1851; and
 
9    WHEREAS, While Montrose was platted by J.B. Johnson,
10William Goebel was believed to be the town's first true
11resident; Goebel, who operated the grain elevator for 14
12years, still has descendants in the Montrose area; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The Village of Montrose held its first town
14meeting at Dr. H.G. Van Sandt's storeroom on May 7, 1892;
15then-elected officials were Village President Henry Will,
16Village Trustee Dr. T. Wisner, Village Trustee Matt Faber,
17Village Trustee Boon Miller, Village Trustee Dr. H.G.
18VanSandt, and Village Clerk R.N. Plummer; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The first meeting of St. Francis Township was
20held in the home of Andrew Schneider and presided by Town Clerk
21F.C. Thoele on April 5, 1870; elections were held, and the
22victors included John W. Thoele as supervisor, Frederich C.

 

 

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1Thoele as town clerk, Bernard Wernsing as assessor, Ferdinand
2Hattrup as collector, Newton Gibbons as justice of the peace,
3D. Crews as constable, D. Overbeck as commissioner of
4highways, John W. Thoele as school trustee, D. Spitler as
5overseer of highways for District 1, A. Schneider as overseer
6of highways for District 2, and B. Pruemer as overseer of
7highways for District 3; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Montrose's first building was a storehouse
9stocked with various types of merchandise built by Browning
10and Schooley; by 1890, there were six general stores, two
11saloons, an implement store, a blacksmith, a flour mill, and a
12hotel; the village's first tavern was opened by Lou Sehi and
13James Hall sometime in the late 19th century when other
14businesses included a funeral home and coffin shop, a hardware
15store, a barbershop, and implement stores; the village was
16also home to the Crews State Bank, which was built in 1902 and
17operated until 1949; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Around the time Montrose was founded, Dr. H.G.
19Van Sandt opened a store that later expanded into what would
20now be known as a pharmacy; Dr. Van Sandt also was the town's
21first agent at the railroad depot and the second postmaster;
22and
 
23    WHEREAS, Montrose's first schoolhouse was a frame building

 

 

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1built by Newton Gibbon one-half mile west of Montrose in 1856,
2and the building was moved to town a year later; Miss Eva
3Gilmore served as the first teacher; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Montrose was incorporated in 1892; according to
5the 2010 census, the village has a total area of 0.69 square
6miles; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Montrose has had a rich tradition of churches
8that were established to serve the families of Montrose,
9including the Montrose United Methodist Church in 1868, St.
10Rose of Lima Catholic Church in 1879, and the Harmon United
11Methodist Church in 1888; other churches in the area that were
12established for Montrose residents include the Mullen Baptist
13Church in 1956, Sacred Heart Church - Lillyville in 1875, St.
14Isidore the Farmer Parish St. Joseph Church in 1874, St. Paul
15Lutheran Church - Rural Wheeler in 1868, and the Woodbury
16United Methodist Church in 1905; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Montrose local lore includes the recollection
18that Abraham Lincoln, while riding the circuit as a lawyer
19along the Cumberland Road, stayed at the stage stop west of
20Montrose prior to the village's incorporation; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Montrose has had a number of notable residents,
22including Carl Winston Browning, who served as a gunner's mate

 

 

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1on the U.S.S. Phelps in the U.S. Navy during the Battle of
2Midway and Guadalcanal, Doctor Albert E. Goebel, who delivered
3over 2,000 babies during his career, and Philip Wiwi, who
4served in the Illinois General Assembly in the 37th and 38th
5sessions, where he sponsored bills concerning the education of
6children and the building of roads and bridges; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Montrose was also the home of Senator Lawrence
8Yates Sherman, who had an illustrious career in public
9service; locally, he served as a Macomb City Attorney and a
10McDonough County Judge; he served in the Illinois House of
11Representatives from 1897 to 1905, where he became Speaker of
12the House in 1899 and served until 1903; he was Illinois
13Lieutenant Governor from 1905 to 1909; he served as a U.S.
14Senator for Illinois from 1913 to 1921, making him the first
15directly elected senator by the citizens of Illinois per the
1617th Amendment to the Constitution in the 1914 election; he is
17buried with his second wife, Mary Estelle (Spitler) Sherman,
18at Faunce Cemetery in Montrose; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The Montrose Sesquicentennial celebration was
20planned and organized by the Montrose 150th Committee and the
21Montrose 150th History and Book Committee; and
 
22    WHEREAS, The Village of Montrose was not able to celebrate
23its sesquicentennial due to COVID-19 restrictions on

 

 

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1gatherings in 2020; it will now celebrate its 150-year
2milestone from August 6 to August 8, 2021; therefore, be it
 
3    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
4HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
5we congratulate the Village of Montrose on the occasion of its
6150th anniversary; and be it further
 
7    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
8presented to the Village of Montrose as an expression of our
9esteem and respect.