Centennial Awards Reception Highlights

John and Diane Week (left) and Barbara and Ted Wachholz were four of the many Society members on hand to greet the Centennial Award winners at the Executive Mansion.

Twenty-three Illinois businesses and not-for-profit corporations received special recognition at the 2007 Centennial Awards Reception, held Saturday, October 6, at the Governor's Mansion in Springfield.

The two-hour afternoon event, hosted by the Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS) and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, recognized the significant civic, cultural, and economic contributions of century-old businesses and organizations in the state. The reception included a chocolate dessert reception for 118 guests, many of whom came from as far away as Metropolis, Grayslake, and Quincy to congratulate this year's Centennial Award recipients. The Capitol Collection, a barbershop quartet from Springfield, entertained the guests during the reception.

Michael Ayers, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, congratulated the winners and said that he looked forward to helping them celebrate their "second century in Illinois." ISHS President John Weck made a champagne toast to the Centennial Award winners, and urged them to share their history with the rest of the state.

Rich Bradley, WUIS-FM public radio station news director, read a brief history of each Centennial Award business or

Glen Ellyn Public Library director Dawn Bussey and her daughter, Kate, at the Centennial Awards Reception.

organization as each stepped to the ballroom stage to receive a plaque inscribed by Governor Rod Blagojevich and ISHS President Weck. The oldest business to receive an award was Winch Floral Shop of Springfield, established in 1880. United Community Bank, founded in 1907 as the Farmer's State Bank of Greenfield, brought 31 employees to the mansion to help its business celebrate its Centennial.

"This was as wonderful event and we were very pleased to be a part of the celebration," said Robert Oestreich, third-generation owner of Oestreich Sales and Sendee, a professional locksmith and security systems company founded in Joliet 1904. Oestreich and his partners, Spiro Ventsias and Charles Rapson, brought their wives to Springfield for the reception and made a weekend of their visit.

As part of this year's Centennial Awards reception, the Illinois State Historical Society presented an 1898 portrait of Governor John Peter Altgeld, painted by Chicago artist Ralph Clarkson, to Executive Mansion's curator David Bourland. The painting, which will hang in the mansion's Altgeld suite, will be on loan to the Mansion Foundation for the next 3 years.

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CEO Robert Narmont and directors of United Community Bank on the halcony staircase at the Executive Mansion.

Laura Merkin and John Hector accepted an award for the Daily Southtown, a Centennial newspaper in Tinley Park.

The Capitol Collection barbershop quartet provided the entertainment.

City National Bank, Metropolis

All photos by RMD Gallery.

For more information about the Centennial Awards or to download photos from the event, call 217-525-2781, or visit the Illinois State Historical Society's website at www.historyillinois.org.

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