Bill Text: IL HR0082 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Congratulates Mayor Ezard, the city council, the City of Jacksonville, and the Jacksonville community on the occasion of its 200th anniversary and acknowledges all of the contributions by its leaders, organizations, and citizens who have positively impacted the community.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Passed) 2025-01-29 - Resolution Adopted [HR0082 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HR0082-Introduced.html

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HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
Representatives wish to congratulate Mayor Harry "Andy" Ezard
and the citizens of Jacksonville on the occasion of its 200th
anniversary; and
WHEREAS, Jacksonville was platted in March 1825 by
surveyor Johnston Shelton, becoming a prairie settlement on a
state road running from the Illinois River to Springfield; it
was settled by southerners who migrated from Kentucky and
Virginia; the settlement grew rapidly with 11 log buildings
and a post office within a year of its existence; settlers from
New England were drawn to the midwest for its rich, fertile
soil in the late 1820s; one of them was a Presbyterian
missionary by the name of John Ellis, and he joined a group of
theological students from Yale College to found Illinois
College, the first college in the young state of Illinois; and
WHEREAS, The foundation of Illinois College fostered a
sentiment that took root in Jacksonville even before the
arrival of higher education; since the 1820s, local
organizations that favored abolition were formed; through the
influence of such organizations, Jacksonville's reputation as
an abolitionist stronghold turned it into a station on the
Underground Railroad, helping guide enslaved people to break

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from their chains and escape to freedom; and
WHEREAS, In the early years, transportation was a common
inconvenience for settlers; that was until the arrival of the
Northern Cross Railroad, the first railroad in Illinois, in
1840, and its connection to Springfield two years later
signaled social and economic growth in the city throughout the
decade; in 1845, the Illinois School for the Deaf opened its
doors and became the largest boarding school for deaf students
in the world; that same decade, the Illinois School for the
Visually Impaired began a similar mission for blind students;
the Illinois Conference Female Academy, later renamed
MacMurray College, was founded in 1846, while the State's
first medical school opened at Illinois College; during this
time, local residents planted elm trees that soon towered over
the city's streets and provided ample shade, earning
Jacksonville the nickname, Elm City; and
WHEREAS, By 1860, the population had ballooned to 5,528,
and the arrival of two additional rail lines, the Tonica and
Petersburg and the Jacksonville, Alton, and St. Louis, brought
further growth to the city; Jacob Strawn, the cattle king of
Morgan County and one of the richest men in Illinois, spent
$100,000 on a grand, two-story opera house that attracted
names such as Mark Twain, Thomas Nast, John Wesley Powell, and
Edwin Booth, brother of the assassin of Abraham Lincoln; and

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WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln himself had ties to Jacksonville
through his legal career and gave a speech in the town square
during his 1858 Senate race; three years later as our nation's
16th president, Lincoln faced his greatest challenge during
the Civil War, which saw 12% of Jacksonville's populace
enlisting for military service, mostly for the 10th Illinois
Infantry and the 101st Illinois Infantry; one of those men who
fought for the Union was General Benjamin Grierson whose
cavalry raids through Mississippi achieved national fame;
another Union soldier and Illinois resident, then-Col. Ulysses
S. Grant, led the 21st Illinois Infantry westward through
Jacksonville along State Street, resting briefly at the county
fairgrounds, which was the beginning of the young commander's
rise; and
WHEREAS, In 1867, Jacksonville was incorporated as a city,
and its citizens elected John Mathers as its first mayor; and
WHEREAS, Following the war, Jacksonville's population
boomed, growing to 9,200 by 1870; that growth was also
reflected in the city's architecture with a new stone
courthouse and many other commercial buildings and churches;
the Jacksonville Street Railway Co., incorporated in 1867,
provided horse-drawn cars in 1870 before evolving to
electrified streetcars in 1892; and

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WHEREAS, Throughout the latter half of the 19th century,
many railways were established and later merged with larger
lines, bringing many businesses and industries to the city;
planing mills, shirt factories, broom factories, and iron
foundries flourished in Jacksonville, among them men's
clothing giant J. Capps and Sons, but the city soon became well
known for its cigar factories; the L.S. Kent-McCarthy Co.
produced roughly six million cigars in 1905, while the
McCarthy-Gebert Co. employed 250 cigar rollers, making the
owners among the wealthiest in the Morgan County working class
before the local industry faded with the rise of the
cigarette; and
WHEREAS, By 1900, the population had grown to more than
15,000; the rise of the automobile in the early 20th century
finally brought Jacksonville to the modern age, with State
funds used to finance a stretch of concrete pavement on Morton
Avenue in 1915; as personal cars became more popular, the need
for train lines became less pressing, ultimately ending a long
chapter in Jacksonville's storied history; and
WHEREAS, In 2009, the citizens of Jacksonville elected
Harry "Andy" Ezard as their mayor, and he still serves as mayor
to this day; and

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WHEREAS, In 1975, during its sesquicentennial, or 150th
anniversary, Jacksonville buried a time capsule that was
donated by the Jacksonville Rotary Club; the capsule currently
lies underneath the downtown square, indicated by a stone
marker in Central Park's northeast corner that reads, "Our
message to the future"; the City of Jacksonville will unearth
this time capsule and open it on October 4th, 2025, the last
day of a year of celebration for its beloved community's 200th
birthday; and
WHEREAS, Jacksonville is a beloved community with a very
rich history that has had a positive impact on the growth of
our great State of Illinois; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we congratulate Mayor Ezard, the city council, the City of
Jacksonville, and the Jacksonville community on the occasion
of its 200th anniversary and acknowledge all of the
contributions by its leaders, organizations, and citizens who
have positively impacted the community; and be it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
presented to Mayor Ezard and the leaders of the City of
Jacksonville as an expression of our respect and esteem for a
storied 200-year history and for being a pivotal community in

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our State and nation's past.