HR0031 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0031 LRB094 05162 CSA 35203 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The official Sesquicentennial Celebration of the Village of Bement will take place on July 29-31, 2005; Bement was chartered on August 6, 1855; and

WHEREAS, Bement, population 1,784, is located in Piatt County; Bement got its beginning due to the vision and foresight of three men; Joseph Bodman, L.B. Wing, and Harry P. Little; they knew that the Great Western Railroad was going from Danville to Quincy, and the land they staked out was on both sides of the tracks; they named Bement after the Treasurer of the Great Western Railroad, with whom they had worked while buying the land; and

WHEREAS, Bement was one of the earliest villages to have telephone service and electricity; the community also saw the need for such things as paved streets, sidewalks, a water system, and a drainage system for the village, as well as for the farm ground; a school was built as one of the first things to improve the community; when the frame-structured school burned down, it was replaced with a brick school that, after over a hundred years of service, is still being used; and

WHEREAS, As times have changed, so has Bement; it has not grown like some towns, but it has increased in population over the last two censuses; it still has its school, two implement dealers, five churches, two nice parks, a swimming pool, a nursing home, an aerated sewage system, four restaurants, a bowling alley, a nationally-rated library, and other things that make for a great community; and

WHEREAS, Bement is also home to Central Illinois Manufacturing Company, which is its largest employer; Topflight Grain Company, which is the largest cooperative grain company in Illinois; Historic Bryant Cottage; Lincoln-Douglas Memorial; a Veterans Memorial; and the award-winning Bement Country Opry; and

WHEREAS, What Bement does have is a great group of citizens; and in that group, there is one descendant of one of the earliest settlers, Robert E. Bodman; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the Village of Bement on the occasion of its Sesquicentennial Celebration; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Village of Bement.