HR0031

LRB094 05162 CSA 35203 r






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HOUSE RESOLUTION


 
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    WHEREAS, The official Sesquicentennial Celebration of the 
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Village of Bement will take place on July 29-31, 2005; Bement 
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was chartered on August 6, 1855; and

 
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    WHEREAS, Bement, population 1,784, is located in Piatt 
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County; Bement got its beginning due to the vision and 
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foresight of three men; Joseph Bodman, L.B. Wing, and Harry P. 
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Little; they knew that the Great Western Railroad was going 
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from Danville to Quincy, and the  land they staked out was on 
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both sides of the tracks; they named Bement after the Treasurer 
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of the Great Western Railroad, with whom they had worked while 
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buying the land; and

 
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    WHEREAS, Bement was one of the earliest villages to have 
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telephone service and electricity; the community also saw the 
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need for such things as paved streets, sidewalks, a water 
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system, and a drainage system for the village, as well as for 
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the farm ground; a school was built as one of the first things 
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to improve the community; when the frame-structured school 
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burned down, it was replaced with a brick school that, after 
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over a hundred years of service, is still being used; and

 
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    WHEREAS, As times have changed, so has Bement; it has not 
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grown like some towns, but it has increased in population over 
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the last two censuses; it still has its school, two implement 
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dealers, five churches, two nice parks, a swimming pool, a 
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nursing home, an aerated sewage system, four restaurants, a 
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bowling alley, a nationally-rated library, and other things 
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that make for a great community; and

 
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    WHEREAS, Bement is also home to Central Illinois 
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Manufacturing Company, which is its largest employer; 
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Topflight Grain Company, which is the largest cooperative grain 
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company in Illinois; Historic Bryant Cottage; Lincoln-Douglas 
 


 






HR0031
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LRB094 05162 CSA 35203 r




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Memorial; a Veterans Memorial; and the award-winning Bement 
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Country Opry; and

 
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    WHEREAS, What Bement does have is a great group of 
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citizens; and in that group, there is one descendant of one of 
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the earliest settlers, Robert E. Bodman; therefore, be it

 
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    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
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NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that 
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we congratulate the Village of Bement on the occasion of its 
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Sesquicentennial Celebration; and be it further

 
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    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be 
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presented to the Village of Bement.