Illinois 2025-2026 Regular Session

Illinois House Bill HR0082 Compare Versions

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3	3	1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
4	4	2 WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
5	5	3 Representatives wish to congratulate Mayor Harry "Andy" Ezard
6	6	4 and the citizens of Jacksonville on the occasion of its 200th
7	7	5 anniversary; and
8	8	6 WHEREAS, Jacksonville was platted in March 1825 by
9	9	7 surveyor Johnston Shelton, becoming a prairie settlement on a
10	10	8 state road running from the Illinois River to Springfield; it
11	11	9 was settled by southerners who migrated from Kentucky and
12	12	10 Virginia; the settlement grew rapidly with 11 log buildings
13	13	11 and a post office within a year of its existence; settlers from
14	14	12 New England were drawn to the midwest for its rich, fertile
15	15	13 soil in the late 1820s; one of them was a Presbyterian
16	16	14 missionary by the name of John Ellis, and he joined a group of
17	17	15 theological students from Yale College to found Illinois
18	18	16 College, the first college in the young state of Illinois; and
19	19	17 WHEREAS, The foundation of Illinois College fostered a
20	20	18 sentiment that took root in Jacksonville even before the
21	21	19 arrival of higher education; since the 1820s, local
22	22	20 organizations that favored abolition were formed; through the
23	23	21 influence of such organizations, Jacksonville's reputation as
24	24	22 an abolitionist stronghold turned it into a station on the
25	25	23 Underground Railroad, helping guide enslaved people to break
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34	34	1 from their chains and escape to freedom; and
35	35	2 WHEREAS, In the early years, transportation was a common
36	36	3 inconvenience for settlers; that was until the arrival of the
37	37	4 Northern Cross Railroad, the first railroad in Illinois, in
38	38	5 1840, and its connection to Springfield two years later
39	39	6 signaled social and economic growth in the city throughout the
40	40	7 decade; in 1845, the Illinois School for the Deaf opened its
41	41	8 doors and became the largest boarding school for deaf students
42	42	9 in the world; that same decade, the Illinois School for the
43	43	10 Visually Impaired began a similar mission for blind students;
44	44	11 the Illinois Conference Female Academy, later renamed
45	45	12 MacMurray College, was founded in 1846, while the State's
46	46	13 first medical school opened at Illinois College; during this
47	47	14 time, local residents planted elm trees that soon towered over
48	48	15 the city's streets and provided ample shade, earning
49	49	16 Jacksonville the nickname, Elm City; and
50	50	17 WHEREAS, By 1860, the population had ballooned to 5,528,
51	51	18 and the arrival of two additional rail lines, the Tonica and
52	52	19 Petersburg and the Jacksonville, Alton, and St. Louis, brought
53	53	20 further growth to the city; Jacob Strawn, the cattle king of
54	54	21 Morgan County and one of the richest men in Illinois, spent
55	55	22 $100,000 on a grand, two-story opera house that attracted
56	56	23 names such as Mark Twain, Thomas Nast, John Wesley Powell, and
57	57	24 Edwin Booth, brother of the assassin of Abraham Lincoln; and
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68	68	1 WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln himself had ties to Jacksonville
69	69	2 through his legal career and gave a speech in the town square
70	70	3 during his 1858 Senate race; three years later as our nation's
71	71	4 16th president, Lincoln faced his greatest challenge during
72	72	5 the Civil War, which saw 12% of Jacksonville's populace
73	73	6 enlisting for military service, mostly for the 10th Illinois
74	74	7 Infantry and the 101st Illinois Infantry; one of those men who
75	75	8 fought for the Union was General Benjamin Grierson whose
76	76	9 cavalry raids through Mississippi achieved national fame;
77	77	10 another Union soldier and Illinois resident, then-Col. Ulysses
78	78	11 S. Grant, led the 21st Illinois Infantry westward through
79	79	12 Jacksonville along State Street, resting briefly at the county
80	80	13 fairgrounds, which was the beginning of the young commander's
81	81	14 rise; and
82	82	15 WHEREAS, In 1867, Jacksonville was incorporated as a city,
83	83	16 and its citizens elected John Mathers as its first mayor; and
84	84	17 WHEREAS, Following the war, Jacksonville's population
85	85	18 boomed, growing to 9,200 by 1870; that growth was also
86	86	19 reflected in the city's architecture with a new stone
87	87	20 courthouse and many other commercial buildings and churches;
88	88	21 the Jacksonville Street Railway Co., incorporated in 1867,
89	89	22 provided horse-drawn cars in 1870 before evolving to
90	90	23 electrified streetcars in 1892; and
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101	101	1 WHEREAS, Throughout the latter half of the 19th century,
102	102	2 many railways were established and later merged with larger
103	103	3 lines, bringing many businesses and industries to the city;
104	104	4 planing mills, shirt factories, broom factories, and iron
105	105	5 foundries flourished in Jacksonville, among them men's
106	106	6 clothing giant J. Capps and Sons, but the city soon became well
107	107	7 known for its cigar factories; the L.S. Kent-McCarthy Co.
108	108	8 produced roughly six million cigars in 1905, while the
109	109	9 McCarthy-Gebert Co. employed 250 cigar rollers, making the
110	110	10 owners among the wealthiest in the Morgan County working class
111	111	11 before the local industry faded with the rise of the
112	112	12 cigarette; and
113	113	13 WHEREAS, By 1900, the population had grown to more than
114	114	14 15,000; the rise of the automobile in the early 20th century
115	115	15 finally brought Jacksonville to the modern age, with State
116	116	16 funds used to finance a stretch of concrete pavement on Morton
117	117	17 Avenue in 1915; as personal cars became more popular, the need
118	118	18 for train lines became less pressing, ultimately ending a long
119	119	19 chapter in Jacksonville's storied history; and
120	120	20 WHEREAS, In 2009, the citizens of Jacksonville elected
121	121	21 Harry "Andy" Ezard as their mayor, and he still serves as mayor
122	122	22 to this day; and
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133	133	1 WHEREAS, In 1975, during its sesquicentennial, or 150th
134	134	2 anniversary, Jacksonville buried a time capsule that was
135	135	3 donated by the Jacksonville Rotary Club; the capsule currently
136	136	4 lies underneath the downtown square, indicated by a stone
137	137	5 marker in Central Park's northeast corner that reads, "Our
138	138	6 message to the future"; the City of Jacksonville will unearth
139	139	7 this time capsule and open it on October 4th, 2025, the last
140	140	8 day of a year of celebration for its beloved community's 200th
141	141	9 birthday; and
142	142	10 WHEREAS, Jacksonville is a beloved community with a very
143	143	11 rich history that has had a positive impact on the growth of
144	144	12 our great State of Illinois; therefore, be it
145	145	13 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
146	146	14 HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
147	147	15 we congratulate Mayor Ezard, the city council, the City of
148	148	16 Jacksonville, and the Jacksonville community on the occasion
149	149	17 of its 200th anniversary and acknowledge all of the
150	150	18 contributions by its leaders, organizations, and citizens who
151	151	19 have positively impacted the community; and be it further
152	152	20 RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
153	153	21 presented to Mayor Ezard and the leaders of the City of
154	154	22 Jacksonville as an expression of our respect and esteem for a
155	155	23 storied 200-year history and for being a pivotal community in
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