Bill Text: IL HR1051 | 2013-2014 | 98th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Recognizes and congratulates the members of the Wire Mill Workers Retirees Club and their families at their annual reunion dinner.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2014-05-06 - Resolution Adopted [HR1051 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2013-HR1051-Introduced.html

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HR1051 LRB098 21050 GRL 58781 r
HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The phenomenal growth of Waukegan Township,
located 36 miles north of Chicago and 60 miles south of
Milwaukee, can be attributed to industry, Lake Michigan, and
the railroads; toward the middle of the 19th century, Waukegan
Township became a thriving center of industry; and
WHEREAS, The Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company of
Worcester, Massachusetts established a wire mill, the Waukegan
Works, along Lake Michigan; the land for its Illinois operation
was purchased on January 16, 1891 at the recommendation of its
advisers, Philip W. Moen, Charles G. Washburn, Fred H. Daniels,
and Edwin Lenox, and included much of the Elisha Wadsworth
Estate; in March of 1891, construction of the Mill complex was
started on a 40 acre plot; by September, a galvanizing
operation began; in November, the company's subdivision, The
Waukegan Highlands, was platted west of the mill; the first
wire was drawn in December; and
WHEREAS, In 1892, the company, a principal manufacturer of
Glidden barbed wire, introduced Waukegan Barbed Wire, invented
by John D. Curtis; and
WHEREAS, The establishment of the plant led both an
industrial and population boom, with workers from Worcester and

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immigrants from Finland, Sweden, and Eastern Europe moving to
the Washburn and Moen subdivision; Slovenian workers called the
area "the Kompanija" - the Company District; first named South
Waukegan, the community that rapidly developed near the mill
was later incorporated as North Chicago; and
WHEREAS, The first wave of industrialization attracted
Eastern Europeans, Finns, and Swedes; during the 1920s, the
next round of manufacturing expansion, Waukegan's population
went up about 75%, drawing upon African-Americans and Southern
whites; by 1955, there were around 19,000 manufacturing jobs in
the Waukegan-North Chicago economic complex; all the workers
who came for those jobs were critical to growing thriving
communities; and
WHEREAS, The American Steel and Wire Company, which later
became the United States Steel Corporation, acquired the Mill
in 1899; by the 1950s, the company had become one of Lake
County's largest employers; and
WHEREAS, Many companies, including American Steel & Wire
(United States Steel), Cyclone Fence, Fansteel, and Chicago
Hardware Foundry, among others, forged not just metals, but the
means of growth and support for Waukegan Township; and
WHEREAS, In 1980, the Steel Worker Retirees Club was

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created to further the interests of retired steelworkers and
their spouses and better the communities where they live; and
WHEREAS, The Steel Worker Retirees Club welcomes any person
as a member who was in good standing with the United Steel
Workers of America at the time of their retirement; and
WHEREAS, The Steel Worker Retirees Club includes any person
as a member who was a retiree, spouse, widow, or widower of a
former employee of United States Steel, Waukegan Works, Cyclone
Fence, and the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway; and
WHEREAS, The Wire Mill Workers Retirees Club has been an
integral part of the communities of Waukegan and North Chicago;
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we recognize and congratulate the members of the Wire Mill
Workers Retirees Club and their families at their annual
reunion dinner; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
presented to the Wire Mill Workers Retirees Club as an
expression of our esteem and respect.