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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION TO COMMEMORATE THE VILLAGE OF LEMONT'S SESQUICENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
WHEREAS The period between 1832 and 1850 became known as the Trail of Tears with Native Americans forced from their homes and relocated to reservations west of the Mississippi River; and
WHEREAS The first settlers arrived in what is now the Village of Lemont in 1833. Known then as Athens, its development began along the site of the Illinois & Michigan Canal which flows through the town. The canal, begun in 1836 and completed in 1848, linked the Illinois River and Lake Michigan, creating a direct waterway to the Mississippi River; and
WHEREAS Canal digging revealed "Athens Marble" a form of Niagaran Dolomite, which made the Village of Lemont famous for its quarries. Used for the canal and local construction, the easily worked rock became a major export, being used in the building of Chicago's iconic Water Tower; and
WHEREAS By 1848, The Village of Lemont's population reached 3,000 people due to many immigrants from New England or Ohio border towns making their way in search of work, with the unskilled laborers being newly arrived Irish, German, Scandinavians, plus French and English Canadians fleeing poverty and political persecution, who came looking for a new life; and
WHEREAS Language and cultural differences led to segregation among the immigrant populations in the community, so they created individual parishes for worship in their native tongue and to build community. These unique parishes became the Village of Lemont's "Seven Steeples"; and
WHEREAS The Village of Lemont's motto is "Village of Faith", and its church spires and temple reflect the many ethnic groups who came here to quarry stone, dig the Sanitary and Ship Canal and work in other industries; and
WHEREAS The Village of Lemont's Old Stone Church, built of limestone in 1861 was used as a recruiting depot for the Union Army during the American Civil War and is credited with being the...
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