HR0803 LRB093 21782 HSS 49635 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the
3 State of Illinois are pleased to congratulate the City of
4 Decatur and Macon County on the occasion of their 175th
5 anniversaries; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Macon County was established on January 19, 1829;
7 the first families to live in Macon County were the Leonard
8 Stevens Family (1821), the Ward Family, the Austin family, the
9 Smith family, the Warnicks family, and several other families;
10 and
 
11     WHEREAS, Macon County was originally part of Shelby County;
12 Benjamin R. Austin, Andrew W. Smith, and John Ward traveled to
13 the State capital of Vandalia to petition the legislature to
14 create Macon County, with the seat of justice to be called
15 Decatur; the county was named after the Revolutionary War
16 Patriot of Carolina, Nathaniel Macon, who refused to accept pay
17 for his services in the war; and
 
18     WHEREAS, The City of Decatur was established on April 10,
19 1829; Benjamin R. Austin, Macon County surveyor, was paid the
20 sum of $24 for his services in laying out the town of Decatur;
21 the county seat of justice was named for Commodore Stephen
22 Decatur, the popular naval hero; and
 
23     WHEREAS, In 1836, the first municipal government in Macon
24 County was that of the Village of Decatur; the Board of
25 Trustees was elected with Richard Oglesby, the uncle of
26 Governor Richard J. Oglesby, serving as the president of the
27 board; and
 
28     WHEREAS, In 1839, the Town of Decatur was incorporated, and
29 in 1855, a new charter from the State legislature was given;
30 this charter provided for an aldermanic form of government, and

 

 

HR0803 - 2 - LRB093 21782 HSS 49635 r

1 on January 7, 1856, the first city officers were elected with
2 John P. Post chosen as Decatur's first mayor; the first marshal
3 of Decatur was Captain John W. Harley, a veteran of the Mexican
4 and Civil Wars; and
 
5     WHEREAS, The Lincoln Log Cabin Courthouse was built in 1830
6 and was the first courthouse in the county; it was also used
7 for public gatherings, church services, and as a school; the
8 Lincoln family first arrived in what is now Decatur's Lincoln
9 Square in 1830; and
 
10     WHEREAS, Decatur was the site where Illinois Republicans
11 gathered at the Wigwam Convention Building and first mentioned
12 Abraham Lincoln for president of the United States; therefore,
13 be it
 
14     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
15 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
16 congratulate the City of Decatur and Macon County on the
17 occasion of their 175th anniversaries; and be it further
 
18     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
19 presented to the City of Decatur and Macon County as an
20 expression of our respect and esteem.