Full Text of HR1264 93rd General Assembly
HR1264 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The Sesquicentennial Celebration of the Village | 3 |
| of Elwood took place on September 11, 2004, during the 14th | 4 |
| Annual Elwood Community Day Celebration; and
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| WHEREAS, Elwood, population 1,620, is located in Will | 6 |
| County and the Township of Jackson; it is bordered by the | 7 |
| Joliet Arsenal Redevelopment project, Abraham Lincoln National | 8 |
| Cemetery, and Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie; and
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| WHEREAS, The year 1854 marked the completion of the Chicago | 10 |
| and Mississippi Railroad; the railroad station in Elwood was | 11 |
| laid out by N.D. Elwood, Esq., from whom Elwood took its name; | 12 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, Elwood has been served by 19 mayors since its | 14 |
| incorporation in 1868, including
William Muhlig, who became the | 15 |
| first President in 1868, and again became President in 1908, | 16 |
| forty years later; John H. Bridge; H.G. Williams; Frank | 17 |
| Shearen;
J.J. Lichtenwalter; Isaac Conard; W.F. Keith; Daniel | 18 |
| Blatt;
John Coldwater; James Tyler, Sr., of James Tyler and | 19 |
| Sons Grain Co., est. 1927-1997; Joe Eib; Andrew Peterson;
Chet | 20 |
| Coldwater; Lawrence "Tom" Thompson; Burton Walsh;
Ken George; | 21 |
| Dale Archer; Jim Clementi; and Bob Blum, who has served from | 22 |
| 2001 to the present; and
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| WHEREAS, The present Village Hall, which has served as both | 24 |
| Village Hall and Fire Station, is still home for the Village | 25 |
| since it took sole occupancy in 1967; and
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| WHEREAS, Elwood is rich with a long history of community | 27 |
| volunteers; the construction of a new fire station began in | 28 |
| March 1957 and it was completed in April 1959; it was named the | 29 |
| Clarence Weidemann Hall and the first fire chief was Fred H. | 30 |
| Blatt, Jr.; the community suffered a loss with its destruction |
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| by fire on August 26, 1995; the dedication of the new fire | 2 |
| station in the Village of Elwood was held on May 12, 1997; and
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| WHEREAS, Elwood's present elementary school was completed | 4 |
| in 1955; the school had its first graduating class in 1956; the | 5 |
| school has since had three additions: in 1967, dedicated as the | 6 |
| Alyce Shaw addition; in 1978, dedicated as the Mary Jane Burns | 7 |
| addition, and the latest addition in 2001; and
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| WHEREAS, Elwood is proud of its parks; the land for Lloyd | 9 |
| C. Erickson Memorial Park was presented to the Village on | 10 |
| August 9, 1974 in a dedication with the Assistant to President | 11 |
| Richard M. Nixon, Dave Wheat, as the Master of Ceremonies and | 12 |
| Rogers C.B. Morton, U. S. Secretary of the Interior, as the | 13 |
| Honored Guest Speaker; and
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| WHEREAS, Elwood is home to the Warren Wood Farm, which was | 15 |
| located on Diagonal Road from 1864 to 1971; Warren Wood was | 16 |
| Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives 1951 to 1957; | 17 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, Elwood is home to Illinois State Senator Lawrence | 19 |
| M. Walsh, who has served as State Senator since 1997; he is a | 20 |
| lifelong Elwood resident and lived on and farmed the Centennial | 21 |
| Farm belonging to Speaker of the Illinois House of | 22 |
| Representatives Warren Wood; and
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| WHEREAS, Established in 1942, Bill's Inn, owned and | 24 |
| operated by the late William R. Hibner and the late Elizabeth | 25 |
| "Betty" Hibner, is the oldest business currently in the | 26 |
| Village; it was relocated into the Village to make way for the | 27 |
| construction of the Joliet Arsenal Ammunition Plant; today the | 28 |
| business continues to operate under the ownership of a third | 29 |
| generation Hibner, James Hibner, Sr.; and
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| WHEREAS, Today the Village also houses the Elwood Community |
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| Church (established in 1966, the first Reverend Phillip Coen), | 2 |
| the Elwood Post Office (established in 1957, with the first | 3 |
| postmaster Fred H. Blatt, Jr.), the Jackson Township Hall | 4 |
| (established in 1870), one gas station (BP Amoco, established | 5 |
| in 1989), one auto repair shop (Elwood Auto - Sam Incopero, | 6 |
| formerly Leo O'Connor's Gas Station), Watsons' Pub and Diner | 7 |
| (formerly Marta's), the Raceway Pizza, the Lazy Dog, | 8 |
| Centerpoint Properties (established in 2002), and the newest | 9 |
| addition, the SBC America switching station (established in | 10 |
| 2004); therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 12 |
| NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 13 |
| congratulate the Village of Elwood on the occasion of its | 14 |
| Sesquicentennial Celebration; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 16 |
| presented to the Village of Elwood President Bob Blum and | 17 |
| Jackson Township Supervisor Lawrence M. Walsh.
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