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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives are pleased to congratulate the citizens of the
4 Village of Mundelein on the occasion of the Village's 100th
5 year of incorporation on February 1, 2009; and
 
6     WHEREAS, The long and rich history of the Village of
7 Mundelein began in 1835, when Peter Shaddle, the area's first
8 known settler, built a log cabin on what is now the grounds of
9 St. Mary of the Lake Seminary; around the same time, a group of
10 English emigrants came to the area to escape the industrial
11 depression occurring in England; the tradesmen became farmers
12 and named their new community "Mechanics Grove" after the life
13 they left behind, building churches and schools and expanding
14 the settlement to the Diamond Lake area; and
 
15     WHEREAS, During the expansion of Mechanics Grove, a man by
16 the name of John Holcomb purchased a large tract of land in the
17 area and became active in the leadership of the rapidly
18 developing area; in his honor, the unincorporated community
19 changed its name to "Holcomb"; the area of Holcomb continued to
20 grow, gaining a railroad station and a post office; in February
21 of 1909, the Holcomb area became incorporated under the name of
22 "Rockefeller", in honor of railroad owner William Rockefeller;
23 and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, The town of Rockefeller boasted grain elevators,
2 various stores and hotels, and the various amenities of a small
3 but active town, but didn't keep the new name very long; Arthur
4 Sheldon, an educational entrepreneur in town, bought 600 acres
5 to build a school for sales techniques, which attracted a peak
6 of 10,000 students, including many women, an unusual feat for
7 the times; the school flourished for a few years, and made such
8 an impact on the town that they accepted Sheldon's request in
9 July of 1909 to rename the newly incorporated Village to
10 "Area", an acronym for his sales school philosophy, "Ability,
11 Reliability, Endurance, and Action"; his school was to close
12 only a few years later; and
 
13     WHEREAS, In 1921, Archbishop (soon to be Cardinal) George
14 Mundelein of Chicago bought Arthur Sheldon's property and
15 authorized the construction of St. Mary's of the Lake Seminary,
16 a new $10 million construction project; to this day, the campus
17 remains a seminary and religious retreat for the Catholic
18 Archdiocese of Chicago, with facilities for up to 400 students;
19 in 1926, the 28th International Eucharist Conference, which was
20 held at the seminary, brought an estimated 500,000 people to
21 Area, a village of 500 people; in recognition of Cardinal
22 Mundelein's success with the new seminary, the village changed
23 its name again in 1924 to its current name, Mundelein; in
24 thanks, the Cardinal donated the Village's first new fire truck

 

 

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1 in 1925; the current Village Hall is the same structure today
2 that was built in 1929 with a few additions; and
 
3     WHEREAS, The following decades have brought the Village of
4 Mundelein great growth in its industry, business, and
5 population, who now look forward to adding great new chapters
6 to Mundelein's history in the decades to come; therefore, be it
 
7     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
8 NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
9 congratulate the citizens of the Village of Mundelein on the
10 occasion of the village's 100th year of incorporation and wish
11 them continued success and happiness in the future; and be it
12 further
 
13     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
14 presented to Kenneth H. Kessler, Mayor of the Village of
15 Mundelein, and the Mundelein Board of Trustees as a symbol of
16 our esteem and respect.