HR0020 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0020 LRB103 05804 MST 50824 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to congratulate Marion County on the occasion of its 200th birthday; and

WHEREAS, Marion County was organized on the 24th of January 1823 from portions of Jefferson and Fayette counties and was named in honor of Revolutionary War General Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox", as recommended by State Representative Zadok Casey of Mt. Vernon, who would later serve as the 14th Speaker of the Illinois House; and

WHEREAS, Marion County is comprised of 576 square miles, 572 square miles of land and 3.7 square miles of water; the southwest corner of Marion County is the intersection of the baseline with the Third Principal Meridian, the point of origin for the third survey of the Northwest Territory under the Land Ordinance of 1785; and

WHEREAS, Marion County consists of 17 townships, which includes Alma, Carrigan, Centralia, Foster, Haines, Iuka, Kinmundy, Meacham, Odin, Omega, Patoka, Raccoon, Romine, Salem, Sandoval, Stevenson, and Tonti, all or portions of the cities of Centralia, Kinmundy, Salem, and Wamac, all or portions of the villages of Alma, Central City, Iuka, Junction City, Kell, Odin, Patoka, Sandoval, Vernon, and Walnut Hill, and the current unincorporated communities of Greendale and Tonti; and

WHEREAS, The permanent settlement of Marion County began with Captain Samuel Young and his nine-year-old son, Matthew, in 1818, prompted after the New Madrid earthquake and flooding of 1811; there were nearly 2000 people living in the county by 1823; and

WHEREAS, The history of Marion County is closely tied to the livelihood and commerce of agriculture, the development and expansion of railroads, the discovery of natural resources including oil and coal, and the impact and service of many public officials and leaders who have called Marion County home, including U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, U.S. Senator Roland Burris, U.S. Congressmen James Stewart Martin, John Cunningham Martin, Charles Wesley Vursell, General Assembly Members Silas Bryan and John D. Cavaletto, and Presidential Press Secretary James Brady; and

WHEREAS, Ninety-five percent of the more than 1,000 farms in Marion County today are still family farms with 71% dedicated to the sale of crops (soybeans, corn, wheat) and 29% to the sale of livestock, poultry, and other products (hogs/pigs, cattle/calves, horses/ponies, sheep/lambs, goats, chickens, and turkeys); and

WHEREAS, Seventy-nine farms are listed as Centennial Farms with the Illinois Department of Agriculture, 16 of which are recognized as Sesquicentennial Farms with continuous ownership in the same family for at least 150 years, including the Kuhn, Doolen, Snyder, Shanafelt, Garrett, Jones, Phillips, Stevenson, Brasel, Whitchurch, and Hanks families; and

WHEREAS, Marion County, specifically the county seat of Salem, earned the nickname "Gateway of Little Egypt" from the year 1831, when crops failed in the northern two thirds of Illinois and northerner's trips through the region for corn were compared to biblical accounts of Israelites' journeys to Egypt to purchase grain; and

WHEREAS, Marion County was a principal marketplace for red top hayseed, which was in great demand in Europe during World War I; it also boasts being recognized as the "Birthplace of the G.I. Bill of Rights" at the American Legion Post 128 in Salem; and

WHEREAS, The State's railroad history dates back to 1837, boasted over 12,000 miles of tracks during its "Golden Age", and, by 1856, was home to ten railroads; Marion County's history has been associated with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad (C&EI), which became part of the Missouri Pacific in 1976 and is now the Union Pacific Railroad, which was established by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, and the Illinois Central Railroad, which merged in 1972 with the Gulf, Mobile, and Ohio Railroad to form the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, which became the Canadian National Railway in 1998; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois Central, the original "Charter Line" from Freeport to Centralia, is memorialized by the 1970 Steve Goodman song, City of New Orleans; and

WHEREAS, The first oil well in Marion County was drilled near Patoka in the northwest section of Marion County, discovered by the Adams Oil and Gas company; by the end of 1937, there were 200 new producing wells in Illinois, 85 of which were in Marion County with 18 on the Merryman Farm near Patoka; and

WHEREAS, In 1938, the Salem Field was discovered in Marion County and produced more than 20 million barrels in its first 12 months of operation from July 1938 to July 1939; Marion County alone produced 93 million barrels in 1939, with 259,000 barrels daily in March of 1940; in 1942, Salem became the eastern terminus of a 550-mile petroleum pipeline from Texas; and

WHEREAS, Marion County boasts eight listings on the National Register of Historic Places, the Sentinel Building and Centralia Commercial Historic District of 55 buildings in Centralia, the Illinois Central Railroad Water Tower & Pump House and the Calendar Rohrbough House in Kinmundy, the William Jennings Bryan Boyhood Home, the Badollet House, the Charles and Naomi Bachmann House, and the Methodist Episcopal Church (Grace United Methodist Church) located in Salem; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois State Historical Society currently lists five historical markers in Marion County, commemorating William Jennings Bryan (dedicated 1962), the Half-Way Tavern (dedicated 1964), Salem (dedicated 1965), The Third Principal Meridian (dedicated 1976), and the Centralia Coal Mine No. 5 Disaster (dedicated 1991); and

WHEREAS, The Illinois State Historical Society has awarded the Sesquicentennial House of Worship Award for a number of churches in Marion County who have continuously served for at least 150 years, including the Little Grove Christian Church in Walnut Hill (1838), the First United Presbyterian Church in Centralia (1856), and the First Christian Church in Centralia (1856); and

WHEREAS, The Salem Historical Commission has also recognized the Lemen-Frakes House on their local registry for its connection to Abraham Lincoln, Rev. Benjamin Lemen and Mary (Rand) Lemen, who co-founded the first college in Illinois, and the Sobieski Polish Royal Family; and

WHEREAS, The Salem Historical Commission, the Marion County Genealogical & Historical Society, the Centralia Area Historical Society, and the Kinmundy Historical Society all help promote the rich history of Marion County; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Marion County on its 200th birthday and acknowledge all of the contributions by the residents, churches, community organizations, farmers, families, factory workers, and community leaders that have had an impact on our State and the nation; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Marion County Board as an expression of our respect and esteem for a vibrant first two hundred years and a leading example of progress.