100 years and growing

For the past 18 years, the Illinois State Historical Society's Centennial Awards Program has honored Illinois corporations that have operated continuously for 100 years or more. More than 1,000 businesses have been honored so far.. This year's Centennial Awards Banquet will he held October 10 at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. If you know a centennial business that has yet to be honored, please call (217- 525-2781) and ask for an application, or visit our ivebsite at www.historyillinois.org. Four of the 40 businesses honored at the 2002 awards ceremony are profiled below.

Mercy Hospital

Founded on June 21, 1852, Mercy Hospital in Chicago was the first chartered hospital in Illinois. Estahlished hy the Sisters ol Mercy, a mission founded by Mother Catherine McAuley of Dublin, Ireland, Mercy was the first Catholic Hospital to affiliate with a medical school—Lind Medical School. Later renamed Mercy Hospital and Orphan Asylum, the institution's goals were clearly defined—to provide high quality medical care and excellence in medical education.

By the turn of the century Mercy was one of the nation's great medical institutions. Thousands of doctors trained there, yet the hospital never lost sight of Mother Catherine McAuley's commitment to the poor.

Today, the hospital belongs to a network of Mercy Healthcare facilities that serves 75 percent of the U.S. population. The vision of Catherine McAuley is strong today, bringing hope, comfort, and excellent care to an ever- growing metropolis. A century ago in Bloomington, Methodist churchwomen transformed a donated home into an orphanage for abandoned and homeless infants and toddlers. Today the Baby Fold is a $10 million, 225 employee, multiservice agency. It specializes in residential, educational, adoption, foster care, pregnancy counseling, and family support and prevention services for children and families. Its mission statement has likewise stood the test of time: the Baby Fold embodies Christian principles to serve children and families and help them build safe loving, and healthy environments.

In 1902, John Mueller started the Worden Lumber Company, using horse drawn wagons to deliver building materials throughout Madison County. Mueller's son-in-law, Reinhardt Hellmann, bought the business in the mid-1930s and continued to build it with his son, Floyd Hellmann. Today the Worden Lumber Company is managed by John Mueller's great-grandson, David Hellmann. The company has a fleet of six trucks and 35,000 square feet of warehouse building space that supplies building contractors throughout the region.

The Red Rooster Inn, Hillsboro's Centennial bed and breakfast, welcomes all "travelers, wayfarers, and refined persons to Montgomery County. Established as the Ilillsboro Hotel Corporation on May 1, 1901, this award-winning rest-over, located on the historic-courthouse square, continues to accommodate politicians and performers, alumni and entrepreneurs, tourist and towns folk for all occasions. A "1st Traveler's Choice" in the Travel and Lodging Directory of Bed and Breakfasts, Country Inns, and Small Hotels, The Red Rooster is now taking reservations into its second century.

Mary Frances Paulding receives a 2002 Centennial Award for the Red Rooster Inn.

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