Becoming a Village; The Long Road to Incorporation

Mokena's Front Porch

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Our Village was founded around the Rock Island Pacific Railroad coming through the middle of what is now downtown Mokena. In 1852 those tracks came through the north end of the McGovney (Yunker) farm. By the mid 1870's, Mokena had 8 saloons, more per capita than any other town in Will County. One of the significant motivators to incorporate was for control of how many liquor licenses would be allowed and who those fees would be paid to. Matt shares how many times they attempted to incorporate before it was finally approved by the voters in 1880.
There are still a few remnants and reminders around town of those first elected officials, including the Front Street home of our first mayor, Ozias McGovney and the location of the first official meeting place of the new board of trustees. Matt shares some great stories and interesting facts about the process and some of the first laws they passed.
We hope you enjoy this episode about an extremely important event in our Village history!
Here is a link to Matt's blog post that this is based on!

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Photo & Artwork Credit: Jennifer Medema & Leslie V. Moore Jr.
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Chapters

1. Mokena History Collection and Incorporation (00:00:00)

2. Early Ordinances and Incorporation Attempts (00:17:38)

3. Mokena's Incorporation and Its Impact (00:32:35)