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HR1157 |
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LRB094 20135 HSS 57876 r |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The village of Ashkum will celebrate its |
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| sesquicentennial the weekend of August 25, 2006; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1856, as railway stations were established |
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| along the main line of the Illinois Central railroad, people |
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| built homes and established businesses that eventually became a |
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| community; one of these communities was Ashkum, named after a |
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| Potawatomi Indian chief who migrated to the west from Indiana |
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| in 1838; railroad records show that by 1856 when the town was |
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| formally organized, six houses, two stores, and a hotel had |
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| been established, and 58 new farms were settled in the |
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| vicinity; and
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| WHEREAS, The Illinois Central railroad's role in the |
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| formation of the town is confirmed by the record of shipments |
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| from Ashkum in 1857, when 331 tons of freight such as corn, |
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| wheat, oats, cattle, and hogs originated at the station; in the |
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| same year, the Illinois Central delivered 1,239 tons of freight |
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| to Ashkum consisting of general merchandise, lumber, shingles, |
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| stone, four, salt, molasses, and ten barrels of whiskey; and
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| WHEREAS, In 2006, there are still railroad tracks running |
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| through the community with thousands of bushels of grain |
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| shipped each year from neighboring farms; Interstate 57, |
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| Chicago's highway link to the south, borders the west side of |
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| the town; the Illinois State Police District 21 office is |
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| located in Ashkum; the town has 38 small businesses as well as |
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| a post office, three churches, and a school; Ashkum is probably |
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| most widely known in the State for its Coliseum, built in 1919, |
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| which has housed many a traveler caught in a snowstorm when |
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| I-57 was temporarily closed; and
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| WHEREAS, Ashkum is the home of 750 residents with an |
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| abundance of quiet streets and beautiful trees; therefore, be |