[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 63 (Tuesday, May 4, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H2609-H2610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   COMMENDING OAK PARK, ILLINOIS, ON 150 YEARS OF TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, 150 years ago in 1849, Oak Park, 
Illinois was just 10 years old, with a total population of less than 
500 people.
  There were no streets lined with Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. 
There was no elevated train system for rapid transit to the City of 
Chicago. There was no light bulb, no telephone or automobile. No one 
had heard of the computer, Internet, or e-mail.

                              {time}  1945

  In 1849, township as a local form of government was established in 
Illinois, and since then, voters in 85 of Illinois' 102 counties have 
benefited from this most intimate form of government.
  Today, Oak Park is a thriving community of more than 53,000 people, 
known for its architectural heritage. Within its 4.5 square miles lives 
a diverse mix of people with different cultures, races and ethnicities, 
professions, lifestyles, religions, ages and incomes.
  Primarily a residential community bordering the city of Chicago, Oak 
Park is the birthplace and childhood home of novelist Ernest Hemingway. 
An annual festival has traditionally been held to celebrate his July 
birth date.
  Architect Frank Lloyd Wright lived in Oak Park from 1889 to 1909, and 
25 buildings in the village were designed by him, including his first 
public building, Unity Temple, a Unitarian Universalist church. His 
restored home and studio is open for daily hours, and there are many 
architecturally significant homes ranging from Victorian to prairie 
style in the village's two historic districts.
  Other famous Oak Parkers include Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of 
Tarzan; Dr. Percy B. Julian, an outstanding African American chemist 
whose research led to the development of cortisone; Joseph Kerwin, an 
astronaut on the first NASA Skylab team; Ray Kroc, the founder of 
McDonald's; and Marjorie Judith Vincent, the 1991 Miss America.
  Oak Park is also home to former president of the Illinois Senate and 
recently appointed chairman of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, 
the honorable Phillip Rock.
  The Oak Park River Forest High School is recognized as one of the 
best public high schools in the Nation, Fenwick is an outstanding 
Catholic school, and the city is currently involved in the 
redevelopment of downtown Oak Park with new retail anchors and an 
intermodal transportation facility.
  In 1968, the village board approved one of the Nation's first local 
fair housing ordinances outlawing discrimination. In 1973, the board 
approved its first Oak Park diversity statement; and, in 1976, Oak Park 
was designated an all-American city.
  One thing that has not changed in Oak Park during the past 150 years 
is the person-to-person service provided by township officials and 
township government in Illinois. When Illinois voters chose township 
government, they chose the oldest form of government on the North 
American continent. The Pilgrims brought the concept of township 
government with them when they landed on the eastern seaboard in 1636. 
More than a century before the Revolutionary War, townships were giving 
communities a local and independent voice in matters of government and 
order.
  Today, as we prepare to move into the 21st century, government in 
Illinois still thrives. More than 8 million

[[Page H2610]]

Illinoisans are served by the 1,433 townships in the State. This year, 
on April 3rd, townships held their annual meetings, which is unique to 
this form of government, where any citizen can step up to the plate and 
voice any concern that they have about the government. In this regard, 
townships are truly the government closest to the people they govern as 
they continue to provide functions and services which are vitally 
important.
  I take this moment after 150 years to commend and congratulate the 
people of Oak Park, Illinois, for demonstrating that democracy can be 
made real and that township government can in fact and does in fact 
work.

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