HR1157                                                               LRB094 20135 HSS 57876 r

1                                           HOUSE RESOLUTION

2           WHEREAS, The village of Ashkum will celebrate its
3           sesquicentennial the weekend of August 25, 2006; and

4           WHEREAS, In 1856, as railway stations were established
5           along the main line of the Illinois Central railroad, people
6           built homes and established businesses that eventually became a
7           community; one of these communities was Ashkum, named after a
8           Potawatomi Indian chief who migrated to the west from Indiana
9           in 1838; railroad records show that by 1856 when the town was
10         formally organized, six houses, two stores, and a hotel had
11         been established, and 58 new farms were settled in the
12         vicinity; and

13         WHEREAS, The Illinois Central railroad's role in the
14          formation of the town is confirmed by the record of shipments
15          from Ashkum in 1857, when 331 tons of freight such as corn,
16          wheat, oats, cattle, and hogs originated at the station; in the
17          same year, the Illinois Central delivered 1,239 tons of freight
18          to Ashkum consisting of general merchandise, lumber, shingles,
19          stone, four, salt, molasses, and ten barrels of whiskey; and

20          WHEREAS, In 2006, there are still railroad tracks running
21          through the community with thousands of bushels of grain
22          shipped each year from neighboring farms; Interstate 57,
23          Chicago's highway link to the south, borders the west side of
24          the town; the Illinois State Police District 21 office is
25          located in Ashkum; the town has 38 small businesses as well as
26          a post office, three churches, and a school; Ashkum is probably
27          most widely known in the State for its Coliseum, built in 1919,
28          which has housed many a traveler caught in a snowstorm when
29          I-57 was temporarily closed; and

30          WHEREAS, Ashkum is the home of 750 residents with an
31          abundance of quiet streets and beautiful trees; therefore, be

HR1157                                     - 2 -                       LRB094 20135 HSS 57876 r

1           it

2           RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
3           NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF              ILLINOIS, that
4           we congratulate the village of Ashkum on the occasion of its
5           sesquicentennial; and be it further

6           RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
7           presented to the village of Ashkum as an expression of our
8           esteem and with best wishes for the community's future
9           prosperity.

Illinois General Assembly HR 1157