Full Text of HR0020 103rd General Assembly
HR0020 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives wish to congratulate Marion County on the | 4 | | occasion of its 200th birthday; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Marion County was organized on the 24th of | 6 | | January 1823 from portions of Jefferson and Fayette counties | 7 | | and was named in honor of Revolutionary War General Francis | 8 | | Marion, the "Swamp Fox", as recommended by State | 9 | | Representative Zadok Casey of Mt. Vernon, who would later | 10 | | serve as the 14th Speaker of the Illinois House; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Marion County is comprised of 576 square miles, | 12 | | 572 square miles of land and 3.7 square miles of water; the | 13 | | southwest corner of Marion County is the intersection of the | 14 | | baseline with the Third Principal Meridian, the point of | 15 | | origin for the third survey of the Northwest Territory under | 16 | | the Land Ordinance of 1785; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, Marion County consists of 17 townships, which | 18 | | includes Alma, Carrigan, Centralia, Foster, Haines, Iuka, | 19 | | Kinmundy, Meacham, Odin, Omega, Patoka, Raccoon, Romine, | 20 | | Salem, Sandoval, Stevenson, and Tonti, all or portions of the | 21 | | cities of Centralia, Kinmundy, Salem, and Wamac, all or | 22 | | portions of the villages of Alma, Central City, Iuka, Junction |
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| 1 | | City, Kell, Odin, Patoka, Sandoval, Vernon, and Walnut Hill, | 2 | | and the current unincorporated communities of Greendale and | 3 | | Tonti; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, The permanent settlement of Marion County began | 5 | | with Captain Samuel Young and his nine-year-old son, Matthew, | 6 | | in 1818, prompted after the New Madrid earthquake and flooding | 7 | | of 1811; there were nearly 2000 people living in the county by | 8 | | 1823; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, The history of Marion County is closely tied to | 10 | | the livelihood and commerce of agriculture, the development | 11 | | and expansion of railroads, the discovery of natural resources | 12 | | including oil and coal, and the impact and service of many | 13 | | public officials and leaders who have called Marion County | 14 | | home, including U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings | 15 | | Bryan, U.S. Senator Roland Burris, U.S. Congressmen James | 16 | | Stewart Martin, John Cunningham Martin, Charles Wesley | 17 | | Vursell, General Assembly Members Silas Bryan and John D. | 18 | | Cavaletto, and Presidential Press Secretary James Brady; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, Ninety-five percent of the more than 1,000 farms | 20 | | in Marion County today are still family farms with 71% | 21 | | dedicated to the sale of crops (soybeans, corn, wheat) and 29% | 22 | | to the sale of livestock, poultry, and other products | 23 | | (hogs/pigs, cattle/calves, horses/ponies, sheep/lambs, goats, |
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| 1 | | chickens, and turkeys); and | 2 | | WHEREAS, Seventy-nine farms are listed as Centennial Farms | 3 | | with the Illinois Department of Agriculture, 16 of which are | 4 | | recognized as Sesquicentennial Farms with continuous ownership | 5 | | in the same family for at least 150 years, including the Kuhn, | 6 | | Doolen, Snyder, Shanafelt, Garrett, Jones, Phillips, | 7 | | Stevenson, Brasel, Whitchurch, and Hanks families; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Marion County, specifically the county seat of | 9 | | Salem, earned the nickname "Gateway of Little Egypt" from the | 10 | | year 1831, when crops failed in the northern two thirds of | 11 | | Illinois and northerner's trips through the region for corn | 12 | | were compared to biblical accounts of Israelites' journeys to | 13 | | Egypt to purchase grain; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Marion County was a principal marketplace for red | 15 | | top hayseed, which was in great demand in Europe during World | 16 | | War I; it also boasts being recognized as the "Birthplace of | 17 | | the G.I. Bill of Rights" at the American Legion Post 128 in | 18 | | Salem; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, The State's railroad history dates back to 1837, | 20 | | boasted over 12,000 miles of tracks during its "Golden Age", | 21 | | and, by 1856, was home to ten railroads; Marion County's | 22 | | history has been associated with the Chicago & Eastern |
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| 1 | | Illinois Railroad (C&EI), which became part of the Missouri | 2 | | Pacific in 1976 and is now the Union Pacific Railroad, which | 3 | | was established by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, and the Illinois | 4 | | Central Railroad, which merged in 1972 with the Gulf, Mobile, | 5 | | and Ohio Railroad to form the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, | 6 | | which became the Canadian National Railway in 1998; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois Central, the original "Charter Line" | 8 | | from Freeport to Centralia, is memorialized by the 1970 Steve | 9 | | Goodman song, City of New Orleans; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, The first oil well in Marion County was drilled | 11 | | near Patoka in the northwest section of Marion County, | 12 | | discovered by the Adams Oil and Gas company; by the end of | 13 | | 1937, there were 200 new producing wells in Illinois, 85 of | 14 | | which were in Marion County with 18 on the Merryman Farm near | 15 | | Patoka; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, In 1938, the Salem Field was discovered in Marion | 17 | | County and produced more than 20 million barrels in its first | 18 | | 12 months of operation from July 1938 to July 1939; Marion | 19 | | County alone produced 93 million barrels in 1939, with 259,000 | 20 | | barrels daily in March of 1940; in 1942, Salem became the | 21 | | eastern terminus of a 550-mile petroleum pipeline from Texas; | 22 | | and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Marion County boasts eight listings on the | 2 | | National Register of Historic Places, the Sentinel Building | 3 | | and Centralia Commercial Historic District of 55 buildings in | 4 | | Centralia, the Illinois Central Railroad Water Tower & Pump | 5 | | House and the Calendar Rohrbough House in Kinmundy, the | 6 | | William Jennings Bryan Boyhood Home, the Badollet House, the | 7 | | Charles and Naomi Bachmann House, and the Methodist Episcopal | 8 | | Church (Grace United Methodist Church) located in Salem; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois State Historical Society currently | 10 | | lists five historical markers in Marion County, commemorating | 11 | | William Jennings Bryan (dedicated 1962), the Half-Way Tavern | 12 | | (dedicated 1964), Salem (dedicated 1965), The Third Principal | 13 | | Meridian (dedicated 1976), and the Centralia Coal Mine No. 5 | 14 | | Disaster (dedicated 1991); and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois State Historical Society has awarded | 16 | | the Sesquicentennial House of Worship Award for a number of | 17 | | churches in Marion County who have continuously served for at | 18 | | least 150 years, including the Little Grove Christian Church | 19 | | in Walnut Hill (1838), the First United Presbyterian Church in | 20 | | Centralia (1856), and the First Christian Church in Centralia | 21 | | (1856); and
| 22 | | WHEREAS, The Salem Historical Commission has also | 23 | | recognized the Lemen-Frakes House on their local registry for |
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| 1 | | its connection to Abraham Lincoln, Rev. Benjamin Lemen and | 2 | | Mary (Rand) Lemen, who co-founded the first college in | 3 | | Illinois, and the Sobieski Polish Royal Family; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, The Salem Historical Commission, the Marion | 5 | | County Genealogical & Historical Society, the Centralia Area | 6 | | Historical Society, and the Kinmundy Historical Society all | 7 | | help promote the rich history of Marion County; therefore, be | 8 | | it
| 9 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 10 | | HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 11 | | we congratulate Marion County on its 200th birthday and | 12 | | acknowledge all of the contributions by the residents, | 13 | | churches, community organizations, farmers, families, factory | 14 | | workers, and community leaders that have had an impact on our | 15 | | State and the nation; and be it further
| 16 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 17 | | presented to the Marion County Board as an expression of our | 18 | | respect and esteem for a vibrant first two hundred years and a | 19 | | leading example of progress.
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