HR0180 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0180 LRB100 08693 MST 22508 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to congratulate the Sloan Valve Company, located in Franklin Park, on the occasion of its 110th anniversary; and

WHEREAS, In 1867, William Elvis Sloan, known as W.E., was born in Liberty, Missouri; his mother passed away when he was in the fourth grade, and so he started working on local construction sites to help support his family; and

WHEREAS, By the time he was a teenager, W.E. Sloan was an experienced pipefitter with a curious mind and a strong work ethic; in his twenties, he moved to the growing metropolis of Chicago in search of new opportunities; and

WHEREAS, W.E. Sloan was an inventor first and foremost, always looking for ways to improve the world around him; he focused on construction and plumbing; and

WHEREAS, In 1906, W.E. Sloan patented an innovative plumbing fixture, the Flushometer, that forever changed the way public restrooms were constructed; and

WHEREAS, In 1914, Weeghman Park, later named Wrigley Field, was built using the flushometer, beginning a long relationship between Sloan Valve Co. and the Chicago Cubs; and

WHEREAS, In 1915, Sloan Valve Co. was recognized for its innovation and given the prestigious San Francisco Award in Engineering; contractors around the world began seeing the value of flushometers with sales increasing from $44,000 in 1912, to $385,000 in 1916; and

WHEREAS, On April 6, 1917, the United States joined the fight in World War I; W.E. Sloan decided to make his products with new materials, such as porcelain for handles, plastic for internal parts, and cast iron to replace the brass used to construct the body of the flush valve; and

WHEREAS, As a result of the boost to the economy when the war ended, Sloan Valve Co. opened its first production plant on Lake Street in Chicago; and

WHEREAS, In 1929, the stock market crashed beginning the Great Depression; W.E. Sloan managed to keep the company operating by cutting his salary in half and cashing in his life insurance policy to keep his employees working; and

WHEREAS, There are stories of W.E. Sloan anonymously sending supplies and food to his workers during the toughest years of the depression; and

WHEREAS, At the beginning World War II, Sloan Valve Co. played an important role in the war effort by supplying flush valves to the United States Naval Fleet and military training facilities; and

WHEREAS, The Sloan Valve Co. factory was retooled to produce detonators and fuses for artillery shells; with the majority of men off at war, the company hired women to work the factory floor; and

WHEREAS, W.E. Sloan remained Chairman of the Board of Sloan Valve Co. until his death at the age of 92; his grandson, Chuck Allen, played an important role in keeping the company relevant after his grandfather's death and after many of the original company employees moved on; and

WHEREAS, In 1964, Sloan Valve Co. opened a new foundry in Melrose Park, considered the most modern brass foundry of its time; and

WHEREAS, In 1971, Sloan Valve Co. moved its center of operations to Franklin Park, where it remains today; and

WHEREAS, In 1977, Chuck Allen was promoted to the office of President; Sloan Valve Co. continued to grow throughout the 1980s; and

WHEREAS, Sloan Valve Co. has been committed to water efficiency since its founding; the Water Efficiency Department was opened in 2000; and

WHEREAS, In 2008, Chuck Allen was promoted to Executive Chairman of the Board and his three sons, Kirk, Jim, and Graham Allen, took over the office of the President; W.E. Sloan's great-grandsons had been working for the company in various capacities since they were teenagers, from sales reps to sweeping the shop floor, they had done it all; and

WHEREAS, Running a family business has its unique struggles; each generation must bring something new to the company; Kirk, Jim, and Graham have helped Sloan Valve Co. become a leader in green technology, building upon the idea that water is our planet's most precious resource and should not be squandered or polluted; and

WHEREAS, Sloan Valve Co. has won many awards for its conservation efforts including a Green Power Leadership Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency; and

WHEREAS, Sloan Valve Co. became the official Water Efficiency Partner for the Chicago Cubs in 2015, and has been given the chance to install all Sloan products during the historic restoration and expansion of Wrigley Field as part of the 1060 project; and

WHEREAS, The legendary ballpark, currently undergoing an extensive restoration with architects, VOA Associates, is being outfitted exclusively with Sloan faucets and flushometers; the featured restroom, located 50 yards from the main entrance on the third base line, is the largest public restroom in Wrigley Field, designed for high traffic use on game day; this is in addition to the other Sloan products in all of the park's restrooms; and

WHEREAS, The relationship between Sloan Valve Co. and the Chicago Cubs grew even stronger in 2015 when Sloan became a Legacy Partner of the Chicago Cubs; the team's training field in Mesa, Arizona was renamed Sloan Park, and has become the perfect showcase for Sloan's newest and greenest products; and

WHEREAS, Sloan Valve Co. continues to build a global brand synonymous with sustainability, energy conservation, and water efficient products, with green innovations that include solar powered technologies and all-in-one sink systems; it also designs upscale commercial restrooms, with more stylish and contemporary product options that are as beautiful as they are sustainable; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Sloan Valve Co. on its 110th Anniversary and wish them continued success in creating quality products that promote water conservation; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Sloan Valve Co. as a symbol of our esteem and respect.