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Mount Pulaski
kicks off 175th anniversary celebration
(1836-2011)
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[January 03, 2011]
MOUNT
PULASKI -- Mount Pulaski paid homage
to 2010 and cheered in the year 2011 with a
lighted-ball drop, fireworks, music,
entertainment, food and refreshments on the
town square. Two $175 drawings were
conducted, one by the Mount Pulaski Farmers
Bank and the other by the 175th Anniversary
Committee. The two winners were announced in
front of the courthouse steps just before
the midnight ball drop and fireworks
display. |
A list of Mount
Pulaski residents and former residents who
died during the year 2010 was read, with
each name receiving a loud gong strike of
the old schoolhouse bell that once was
placed in the courthouse belfry. This large
bell is now displayed in a wooden open-air
hutch on the south side of the courthouse
property.
The building was the schoolhouse for
grades one through 12 in Mount Pulaski from
1857 to 1878, after the courthouse lost its
county seat activities of 1848-1855 with the
results of the election of 1853. (It was two
years before the actual transfer to the new
Lincoln venue took place, due to litigation
by the city of Mount Pulaski.) Names of some
of the known students from the courthouse
school days are displayed beneath the bell.
Following the recitation and gonging of
names of the deceased, a moment of prayer
was conducted by Darrel Wernsing. Then the
175th Anniversary Committee served soup and
sandwiches in the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Hall for a good-will offering.
Pizza Man and Buff's Restaurant were open
for dinner, with music and entertainment
following at the Mount Pulaski Museum, VFW
Hall and Buff's Restaurant.
The Illinois State Historic Site
Courthouse and Mount Pulaski Historical
Museum were open for refreshments and tours.
Children's activities were provided by the
First Christian and Zion Lutheran churches.
Tickets for the Mount Pulaski
"Distinguished Alumni & Citizen Awards"
program at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Museum in Springfield this summer were on
sale at various places around the square.
The presidential museum has been reserved
for the evening event on June 30. The
tickets are $35, which includes hors
d'oeuvres, drinks and access to all of the
museum exhibits and shows.
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Perhaps as many as 700 people, including
many children, were in attendance at various
times throughout the evening's activities. A
New Year's Eve photo of the town's citizens
was taken on the steps of the courthouse a
few minutes prior to midnight.
Tom Martin serves as the chair of the
Mount Pulaski 175th Anniversary Committee,
which will be conducting additional events
throughout 2011 to mark Mount Pulaski's
175th birthday.
Mount Pulaski was given its town status
by the Sangamon County land office on July
5, 1836, before Logan County came into
existence in 1839.
[Text from file received from Phil
Bertoni]
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