HR1193 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1193 LRB094 20266 HSS 58294 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Village of Maywood will celebrate the 125th anniversary of its incorporation on October 22, 2006; and

WHEREAS, A planned community from the outset, Maywood lies on the west bank of the Des Plaines River, stretching from Roosevelt Road on the south to just beyond Augusta Street on the north; Maywood was originally part of a larger area known as Noyesville, named after one of Proviso Township's early settlers, who established the area's first post office in the mid-1830s; and

WHEREAS, In 1869, a group of Vermont businessmen formed the Maywood Company and purchased the Village's original plat, a narrow, one-and-three-quarters-mile strip along the Des Plaines River; Company President Colonel William T. Nichols named the Village after his daughter May and immediately began subdividing the land and creating improvements necessary to "build up a neat, desirable suburb"; and

WHEREAS, Since its incorporation as a village in 1881, Maywood's economic development has hinged on light industry, starting in 1883, when the Norton Brothers purchased the old road scraper and ditch digger plant in the Village, which they established as an operating can manufacturing unit by 1885; in 1901, the American Can Company purchased the plant from the Norton Brothers; other industries were subsequently attracted to the area, located primarily within the factory district along the north side of the railroad tracks; and

WHEREAS, Maywood gained a major institution in 1918 when the Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Memorial Hospital was established for the care of war veterans; Village businesses and their workers were served by excellent transportation, including the Chicago & North Western train (1870), electric street railways (1893), and Chicago's rapid transit system; during the 1920s, Checkerboard Field (now Miller Meadow) provided air service; and

WHEREAS, After an economic downturn in the 1970s, somewhat offset by the introduction of the Loyola University Medical Center during the 1960s, Maywood began to rebound in the 1990s; in an attempt to attract new industry and businesses, the Village established a tax increment financing district on the former site of American Can Company, which was leveled in 1997; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize the 125th anniversary of the incorporation of the Village of Maywood; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Village of Maywood as an expression of our esteem and with best wishes for a prosperous future.