HR0803 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0803 LRB093 21782 HSS 49635 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the State of Illinois are pleased to congratulate the City of Decatur and Macon County on the occasion of their 175th anniversaries; and

WHEREAS, Macon County was established on January 19, 1829; the first families to live in Macon County were the Leonard Stevens Family (1821), the Ward Family, the Austin family, the Smith family, the Warnicks family, and several other families; and

WHEREAS, Macon County was originally part of Shelby County; Benjamin R. Austin, Andrew W. Smith, and John Ward traveled to the State capital of Vandalia to petition the legislature to create Macon County, with the seat of justice to be called Decatur; the county was named after the Revolutionary War Patriot of Carolina, Nathaniel Macon, who refused to accept pay for his services in the war; and

WHEREAS, The City of Decatur was established on April 10, 1829; Benjamin R. Austin, Macon County surveyor, was paid the sum of $24 for his services in laying out the town of Decatur; the county seat of justice was named for Commodore Stephen Decatur, the popular naval hero; and

WHEREAS, In 1836, the first municipal government in Macon County was that of the Village of Decatur; the Board of Trustees was elected with Richard Oglesby, the uncle of Governor Richard J. Oglesby, serving as the president of the board; and

WHEREAS, In 1839, the Town of Decatur was incorporated, and in 1855, a new charter from the State legislature was given; this charter provided for an aldermanic form of government, and on January 7, 1856, the first city officers were elected with John P. Post chosen as Decatur's first mayor; the first marshal of Decatur was Captain John W. Harley, a veteran of the Mexican and Civil Wars; and

WHEREAS, The Lincoln Log Cabin Courthouse was built in 1830 and was the first courthouse in the county; it was also used for public gatherings, church services, and as a school; the Lincoln family first arrived in what is now Decatur's Lincoln Square in 1830; and

WHEREAS, Decatur was the site where Illinois Republicans gathered at the Wigwam Convention Building and first mentioned Abraham Lincoln for president of the United States; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the City of Decatur and Macon County on the occasion of their 175th anniversaries; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the City of Decatur and Macon County as an expression of our respect and esteem.