Mount
Pulaski ends 175th year with New Year's Eve
gathering
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[January 04, 2012]
MOUNT
PULASKI -- Mount
Pulaski (1836-2011) concluded its 175th year
with a New Year's Eve celebration on the
town square, featuring shopping, food and
entertainment. |
A
supper with a medley of sizzling hot soups
and pulled-pork sandwiches was offered at
the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 777 Hall
on the south side of the square, across from
the courthouse.
In the town's museum next door,
entertainment was provided by vocalist
Jennifer Wernsing, with her mom, Karen, on
the keyboard. Eight-year-old Evan Cyrulik
won the museum's “History
Hunt Contest,”
hugging his newly won “Lincoln
Log Cabin,” full
of 2-dollar bills, for the remainder of the
evening. Complimentary cookies, punch and
coffee were provided by the museum ladies.
Three gift shops on the west side of the
square were open, with Buff's Restaurant
serving a prime-rib dinner. Complimentary
hot cider and cookies were offered in the
courthouse, with Bob McCue hosting two
sessions of Abraham Lincoln stories in the
upstairs courtroom where once Abe, Judge
David Davis, Steven A. Douglas, Samuel
Treat, William Herndon, Samuel C. Parks,
Lionel Lacy, William Young and others paced
the old wooden floor, which is yet
preserved.
The names of all 2011 Mount Pulaski
deceased were read, each receiving a loud
gong on the 1860s bell that once hung in the
courthouse belfry, but now is on display
down on ground level on the south side of
the courthouse lawn.
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Tom Martin, who
chaired the 175th anniversary celebration,
reported that the original goal of $100,000
was met with a $100,400 response, with
$100,200 spent on the year's various
festivities. He concluded with some
cheerful, grateful remarks on the town's
continued camaraderie and the notice that
the new offshoot organization will be
the Mount Pulaski Courthouse Foundation,
which will provide ongoing financial support
for the repair and maintenance of Mount
Pulaski's historic courthouse, one of two
remaining original standing courthouses on
the 1850s Illinois 8th Judicial Circuit.
[Text by PHIL BERTONI - photo by ALLEN
SCHAAL]
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