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Shawneetown Bicentennial

Volume
Volume 156 , Number 85
Pages
Pages E1040
Legislative Body
Extensions of Remarks
Date
Tue, June 8, 2010

Rep. John Shimkus

legislator photo
Party
R
State
IL

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the City of Shawneetown, Illinois, upon its bicentennial. Shawnetown was established as a city by the Federal Government in 1810 and is the oldest chartered city in the State of Illinois.

Shawneetown was home to the first bank in the Illinois Territory, chartered in 1816 and located in the John Marshall residence near the Ohio River Bridge. The first State bank in Illinois was built in 1839-1840 in Shawenetown.

General Marquis de LaFayette, of France, visited Shawneetown in 1825, as part of his famous tour of America after he had served so valiantly during the American Revolution.

Shaweetown was flooded by great flood of 1937. The gauge read 66 feet, which was five feet higher than the top of the levee. Following the 1937 flood, Shawneetown moved three miles west and was surveyed by the Federal Government.

Today, Shawneetown is the home of Bunge Grain Corporation, Power Inc., Shawneetown Harbor Service, Inc., a Peabody Coal Company River Dock and several other small businesses.

I would like to congratulate the citizens of Shawnetown as they celebrate 200 years of success. May God bless Shawneetown for many years to come.