Full Text of HR0484 94th General Assembly
HR0484 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
|
|
|
HR0484 |
|
LRB094 12483 CSA 46968 r |
|
| 1 |
| HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 |
| WHEREAS, In 1904, mining experts from the St. Paul Coal | 3 |
| Company discovered a vast vein of bituminous coal in eastern | 4 |
| Bureau County that was almost unequaled in quality, and | 5 |
| instantly began to sink the State's largest coal mine in what | 6 |
| was to become the Village of Cherry; the mine and the Village | 7 |
| were named after James Cherry, former Seatonville mayor, who | 8 |
| was the regional superintendent of mines; and
| 9 |
| WHEREAS, In April of 1905, the Village of Cherry was | 10 |
| incorporated; by June of 1905, the St. Paul Coal Company had | 11 |
| invested $200,000 in developing the mine and the Village to | 12 |
| house its workers; and
| 13 |
| WHEREAS, The mine company's plan for the new Village called | 14 |
| for a park, a school, a bank, and several general stores; | 15 |
| expecting Cherry to be its crowning jewel, the Chicago, | 16 |
| Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway Company built a first-class | 17 |
| railroad station two blocks from the main business district; | 18 |
| the coal company built a fifty-room hotel and fifty modern | 19 |
| model homes and sold 120 acres of land for building and | 20 |
| business purposes as the Village began to grow across the | 21 |
| prairie; and
| 22 |
| WHEREAS, In its heyday, Cherry consisted of 125 company | 23 |
| houses and 250 private homes and had a population of over 2500; | 24 |
| and
| 25 |
| WHEREAS, Disaster struck on November 13, 1909; hay that had | 26 |
| been brought down to feed the mules stabled in the third level | 27 |
| of the mine caught fire, and the quickly spreading fire | 28 |
| resulted in the loss of 259 lives; on November 20, twenty-one | 29 |
| men were found alive and rescued from the mine; no other miners | 30 |
| were found alive, and when fire broke out again on November 25, | 31 |
| a decision was made to seal the mine; on February 1, 1910, the |
|
|
|
HR0484 |
- 2 - |
LRB094 12483 CSA 46968 r |
|
| 1 |
| mine was unsealed and the last of the bodies were removed; and
| 2 |
| WHEREAS, The St. Paul Coal Company reopened the mine in the | 3 |
| latter part of 1910 and developed and worked the third vein | 4 |
| until 1927, when changes in the mining industry made the mine | 5 |
| unprofitable to operate; and
| 6 |
| WHEREAS, After closure of the mine, the company acres were | 7 |
| sold and converted to farmland, and the population of the | 8 |
| Village dwindled and has since stabilized at approximately 500 | 9 |
| people; therefore, be it
| 10 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 11 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 12 |
| we congratulate the Village of Cherry on the occasion of its | 13 |
| 100th anniversary and convey our warmest regards to its
| 14 |
| residents; and be it further
| 15 |
| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 16 |
| presented to the Village of Cherry as an expression of our | 17 |
| esteem.
|
|