Amboy Welcome Guide 2017-2018

Get to know us

Get to know us

AMBOY, ILLINOIS

Published by Sauk Valley Media

2017-2018

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Get to know us...Amboy, Illinois • 2017-2018

GET TO KNOW US ... AMBOY | WHAT’S INSIDE Publisher: Don T. Bricker Advertising Director: Jennifer Heintzelman Advertising Sales: Jill Reyna Efren Diaz Editors: Lucas Pauley Rusty Schrader

History .......................................................5-7 Community groups ........................................ 9 Dining ....................................................... 10 Churches ................................................... 11 Education................................................12-13 Sauk........................................................... 16 Library........................................................ 17 Parks.......................................................... 18 Attractions ..............................................19-20 Camping.................................................... 21 Railroad history ......................................22-23 Depot Days.............................................24-25 Health care ................................................ 26 Numbers to note ......................................... 27

Get to Know Us ... Amboy, Illinois, is a specialty publication of Sauk Valley Media.

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AMBOY | HISTORY

From farmland to city

T

he city of Amboy sprang forth from humble roots.

In the mid-1800s, the land that now falls within city limits primarily was farmland, dotted with a few shanties and farmhouses, built by settlers who began arriving in 1837.

All that changed in 1852, when the Illinois Central Railroad bought the farms owned by Cyrus Davis, Joseph Appleton and Joseph Farwell, with

Amboy, circa 1907, as seen on a picture postcard.

plans to make Amboy its manufacturing and repair shop hub.

A survey was done on March 23, 1854, to

establish the original portion of town, and bonds for lot deeds were executed that July.

storic Amb i H t i s oy Vi

City of

Amboy

227 East Main St., Amboy, Illinois 61310

815-857-3814

www.cityofamboy.org SM-ST1452388

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John Schamberger, Mayor Get to know us...Amboy, Illinois • 2017-2018

The first city lot, on the northeast corner of Main Street and South East Avenue, was bought by John L. Skinner for $600. He built a hotel on the lot, and within a year, there were 100 homes and 1,000 people in Amboy.

As the Illinois Central Railroad made progress on its buildings, people came to Amboy and settled there.

To accommodate them, Amboy’s original plat was expanded repeatedly until the city limits encompassed nearly 1,000 acres of land.

By July 1856, a 2-year-old Amboy had nearly 2,000 inhabitants, 500 houses, two churches (also used as schoolhouses), a printing office, 16 stores, several groceries, a planning mill, three hotels, two livery stables and other shops, including a carpenter, cabinet, blacksmith, tin, mattress, paint and harness shop.

Common storerooms were rented at $150 to $200 a year, homes from $10 to $20 a month.

A town without a name The town continued to grow and prosper, but did not have a name.

The residents called a meeting to rectify that situation, and many suggestions were made, including Hornsby, Bolton, Painted Post and Elmira. Finally, the name Bath was chosen.

Lorenzo D. Wasson was sent to Dixon with the necessary papers to have the town so incorporated, but when the papers were returned, to everyone’s astonishment, it had been incorporated as Amboy.

The cause of the change never has been determined.

Some thought the name Amboy came from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, which was named for the Earl of Perth, while others attribute it to the Indian word “em-bo-li,” which means “between the hills.”

HISTORY continued on 74

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Get to know us...Amboy, Illinois • 2017-2018

Amboy to visit the Wassons and helped establish Mormonism within the community, making Amboy one of the first settlements of the Mormon Church.

Just outside of Amboy on Mormon Road, the Mormon Church established the Mormon Cemetery. One of Brigham Young’s wives is buried there.

After Joseph Smith died and the church was moved to Plano, members of the Mormon Church began attending some of the other churches in Amboy. By 1854, there were nine churches in Amboy.

A city at war Submitted

Green River Ordnance Plant produced everything from rifle grenades to armor-piercing shells for World War II.

HISTORY

CONTINUED FROM 5 t

It may not have been the city’s chosen name, but it stuck, and the city was incorporated as Amboy by popular vote March 2, 1857. Later that year, Col. John B. Wyman was elected its first mayor.

Mormons at Palestine Grove Among some of the early settlers in the Amboy region were Benjamin and Elizabeth Wasson.

The Wassons built a cabin along the Green River in 1837, and later a house in what was then known as Palestine Grove, just outside of present-day Amboy.

Elizabeth Wasson’s sister was Emma Smith, wife of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.

When the Smiths and other members of the Mormon Church fled religious prosecution in Fayette, New York, they moved to Illinois and settled in Commerce. The village later changed its name to Nauvoo.

Because Nauvoo and Amboy were not too far apart, the Smiths would travel to Sauk Valley Media

In 1942, Amboy was selected as the site for the Green River Ordnance Plant, one of four munitions assembly facilities built in Illinois during World War II. The Stewart-Warner Corp. operated the 8,342-acre facility for the Army Ordnance Corp., which had seven munitions lines.

The types of ammunition manufactured at Green River ranged from rifle grenades to armor-piercing shells to bombs. The bazooka rocket was developed and produced there.

By Dec. 15, 1942, Green River employed 4,419 people on 3 shifts, 6 days a week. More than half of these workers were women, who were entering the work force in significant numbers for the first time.

Worker turnover was constant, especially on the loading lines where explosive powder in the air caused skin infections and inhaling the powder caused respiratory problems.

Despite the constant need for new workers, Green River was awarded an Army-Navy “E” flag for efficiency in production and won two more stars by the end of the war.

Only 5 percent of the nation’s war production plants received this award.

By the time the plant ceased production on Aug. 20, 1945, Green River had produced 25 million rifle grenades, 10 million 75-mm projectiles and 10,921 1,600-pound bombs.

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Get to know us...Amboy, Illinois • 2017-2018

AMBOY | COMMUNITY GROUPS

Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com

Judges watch as Laci Daniels, 6, of Amboy, completes her second full pull to win her class in the pedal tractor pull on her birthday at the 2017 Lee County 4-H Fair in Amboy.

Amboy Education Foundation 815-857-2856 or Facebook Amboy Lions Club 280 W. Wasson Road 815-440-1779 or amboylionsclub.com American Legion & Auxiliary P.O. Box 349, meets at 224 N. Jones Ave. first Monday of month at 6:30 p.m., 815-849-5219 or illinois-dist13-legion.org Depot Museum Commission P.O. Box 108 815-857-4700 or amboydepotmuseum.org Future Farmers of America 11 E. Hawley St. Sauk Valley Media

815-857-3632 or ffa.org Girl Scouts 229 First Ave., Suite 1, 815-997-5100 or girlscoutsni.org Green River Saddle Club 1580 Morman Road 815-857-3497 or greenriversaddleclub. webs.com Lee County Master Gardeners Lee County Extension Office, 280 W. Wasson Road 815-857-3525 or web.extension.illinois.edu/ clw/leemg Illinois Central Masonic Lodge 237 E. Main St. 815-857-2782 or 178-il.ourlodgepage.com

Knights of Columbus Council 8277 St. Patrick Catholic Church, 32 N. Jones Ave. 815-857-2315, stpatrickamboy.org or kofc.org Lee County 4-H Lee County Extension Office, 280 W. Wasson Road 815-857-3525 or web.extension.illinois.edu/ clw/lee4h St. Patrick’s Women’s Organization St. Patrick Catholic Church 32 N. Jones Ave 815-857-2315 or stpatrickamboy.org/womensorganization Teen Turf Inc. 235 W. Main St. 815-857-4800 or Facebook 9

AMBOY | DINING Depot Tap 49 S. East Ave. 815-857-3555 Casey’s General Store (carryout pizza) 308 E. Main St. 815-358-3992 Long Branch Saloon 55 S. East Ave. 815-857-3486 Maria’s Pizza 110 E. Main St. 815-857-2200 Submitted

Grab a slice at Amboy Family Restaurant & Pizza Junction.

Amboy Family Restaurant & Pizza Junction 211 E. Main St. 815-857-3985

Meusel’s Dairy Delite 303 S. Mason Ave. 815-857-2050 Subway 310 E. Joe Drive 815-857-3249 Sunset Inn Restaurant 1578 U.S. Route 30 815-857-3482

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AMBOY | PLACES OF WORSHIP East Grove Union Church 449 Reuter Road, 815-376-6661 or Facebook First Baptist Church 24 N. Mason Ave. 815-857-2682 or fbcamboy.org Grace Fellowship Church 37 S. East Ave. 815-857-3900 or graceisforyou.com Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church 960 U.S. Route 52 815-857-2225 or Facebook St. Patrick Catholic Church 32 N. Jones Ave. 815-857-2315 or stpatrickamboy.org United First Church of Amboy 326 E. Main St., 815-857-2415 or Facebook

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com

St. Patrick Catholic Church, 32 N. Jones Ave.

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AMBOY | EDUCATION

T

hrough datadriven decisions, teamwork, community involvement and visionary leadership, the Amboy Board of Education is striving for “excellence, every day” – the district’s vision statement.

The Amboy Board of Education meets once a month, generally on the third Thursday of the month, at 7 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. A calendar of dates, which might vary based on holidays and other school activities, is available on the district website.

Alex Saccamando, 17, fires a rocket in March 2017 outside Amboy High School, as part of a project.

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com

Amboy Community Unit School District No. 272 11 E. Hawley St. 815-857-2164 amboy.net The district consists of three schools:

Amboy High School 11 E. Hawley St. 815-857-3632 Amboy High School was formed as part of Amboy CUSD 272 in 1949 in Lee County. This district replaced the former Amboy Township High School District.

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Get to know us...Amboy, Illinois • 2017-2018

The 205-square-mile district encompasses Amboy, Sublette, Maytown, Harmon, Eldena and Walton.

In September 1969, the new building at Metcalf and Hawley streets opened, replacing the former school building, which now houses Amboy Junior High School.

Amboy High School is the home of the Clippers, whose colors are red, black and white. School activities include Academic Bowl, FFA, Key Club, National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Student Council, yearbook, band, chorus and athletics.

Joshua Nichols is principal.

Amboy Junior High School 14 S. Appleton Ave. 815-857-3528 At Amboy Junior High, fifth- through eighth-graders take courses in English, language arts, math, science, social studies, art and computers.

Opportunities are available for advanced math, pre-algebra and algebra.

All students can participate in beginning band, band, pep band and jazz band. Sixth-

through eighth-graders also can join chorus.

Extracurricular opportunities include an art club, computer club, academic team, student council, wrestling, volleyball, basketball and track.

The school is the home of the Vikings.

Joyce Schamberger is principal.

Amboy Central Elementary School 30 E. Provost St. 815-857-3619 Central School includes kindergarten through fourth grade, Smart Start and Early Childhood Education.

All classrooms are on the ground floor, and a large, safe playground is behind the school.

Central is a progressive elementary school that uses research-based methods of instruction to teach the basics of reading, writing and mathematics. Specialists also are on staff to teach science, music and physical education.

The Ogle County Education Cooperative provides special education services in all grades.

Schamberger is principal.

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AMBOY | SAUK VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Dedication to education

S

auk Valley Community College has been on a mission to provide quality education to its diverse student body since its doors opened in 1965.

The college, which sits on a 144-acre campus at 173 state Route 2, between Dixon and Sterling, enrolls more than 2,500 full- and part-time students a year from 16 in-district high schools, 18 states and three foreign countries.

Sauk offers 2-year transfer associate degrees in art or science in more than 40 areas; 22 career-technical degrees, 24 associate degrees and a associate in engineering science degree, along with 50 career-technical certificates.

Sauk also offers adult education classes, dual-credit courses for area high school students, literacy and

GED services, community services and workforce services.

Men’s and women’s sports, cultural activities and events, and more than 20 student clubs and organizations, including Phi Theta Kappa (the honor society for 2-year colleges), student government, Association of Latin American Students, Magic Club, Campus Crusade for Christ and Math Club, contribute to the vibrant campus life. Students also have access to the Sauk YMCA. Membership is $19 a month for students and $40.25 a month for faculty and staff.

Sauk has been fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools since 1972.

Go to svcc.edu or call 815-835-6273. for more information.

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Building Material & Hardware 16

Get to know us...Amboy, Illinois • 2017-2018

AMBOY | PANKHURST MEMORIAL LIBRARY

I

Facility built in 1929

n 1875, a library association was formed to create a new library. It was housed in various locations until 1910, when the Amboy Women’s Club rented rooms on the second floor of the Green Building for use as a public library.

Within a year, though, the library outgrew its space, so it moved again to the Vaughan Building over Whonke’s Drug Store. To maintain the library, an annual fee of $1 was charged to each adult and 25 cents to each child patron.

By 1922, the library had 2,800 volumes.

In 1928, James W. Pankhurst, a prominent farmer in the area, donated money for a new library to serve as a lasting memorial to himself. W.F. Remsburg was hired to build this first permanent library in Amboy.

The new library, named Pankhurst Memorial Library, was dedicated May 27, 1929, with the Women’s Club presenting all of the books from the old library to the new one.

The first borrower’s card went to Pankhurst when the library opened July 6, 1929.

Sauk Valley Media

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com

Pankhurst Memorial Library has more than 23,500 volumes and an online e-book service.

Pankhurst Memorial Library Address: 3 S. Jefferson Ave. Phone: 815-857-3925 Online: amboy.lib.il.us Hours: 1 to 7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday That day, 93 people registered for borrower’s cards and 115 books were checked out.

By the end of the library’s first fiscal year on May 9, 1930, the library had 508 registered borrowers and a collection of 2,756 volumes, including 2,061 adult books, 695 children’s books and nine newspapers and magazines.

Today, about a third of Amboy residents have a library card, and the library has more than 23,500 volumes. The

library also offers an online e-book service.

The Women’s Club now is the Amboy Civic Organization, but it continues to support the library through fundraising efforts.

Pankhurst Memorial Library has been updated with a ramp and elevator to make it accessible to the disabled.

Services to patrons include interlibrary loans, online e-book loans, programs and events for all ages, a copier and fax machine and a meeting room.​ 17

AMBOY | PARKS • Amboy City Park: East Main Street, five blocks east of U.S. Route 52; picnic areas, shelters, charcoal grills, playground equipment, lighted ball diamonds, tennis courts, bathrooms, water and electricity, plus 30 sculptured trees; closed Nov. 1 through April 1.

• Amboy Sports Park: corner of Appleton Avenue and Main Street; soccer, football and baseball fields, plus a playground, concession stand and bathrooms.

• Clint C. Conway Historical Park: Main Street, two blocks west of U.S. Route 52; site of the Amboy Depot Museum, railroad engine and picnic shelter.

• Green River State Wildlife Area: 375 Game Road, Harmon, 15 miles southwest of Amboy; this wildlife restoration area is popular with hunters, hikers and birders. The 2,565-acre area includes prairie restorations, timberlands and a camping area.

• Shady Oaks Golf Course: 577 U.S. Route 52, 815-849-5424; a fun, 18-hole course, with tricky greens and a short course; club house with cocktail bar, food and pro shop.

• Sen. David C. Shapiro Park: U.S. Route 52, next to the Green River; picnic shelter and tables, bathrooms, and fishing.

• Veterans Park: Corner of East Avenue and Division Street; the Amboy Women’s Club dedicated the park in fall 1919 to the veterans of World War I. A bear wood carving greets visitors to Amboy City Park.

Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com 18

Get to know us...Amboy, Illinois • 2017-2018

AMBOY | ATTRACTIONS Amboy Conference plaque 9 S. East Ave. Amboy was one of the first Mormon Church settlements. The Amboy Conference was the settling of the official “reorganization” of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints into the Latter Day Saint denomination now known as the Community of Christ. The conference was held April 6, 1860.

Amboy Depot Museum East Main Street and South East Avenue 815-857-4700 amboydepotmuseum.org This Illinois Central Railroad depot, built in 1876, has been completely renovated and now is a 19-room museum reflecting the his-

Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com

A wide variety of items from Amboy’s past are displayed at the Amboy Depot Museum. tory of the Amboy area. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Other attractions adjoining the museum include a steam locomotive, a one-room schoolhouse, the Illinois Central Freight House, and a 1920s era

Norfolk & Western caboose all open to tour; free admission, donations welcomed; open April through October from 1-4 p.m. Sunday and Thursday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Friday and Saturday. continued on

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store chain. A plaque commemorates the site of the first store.

Stone Home Farm 1125 Inlet Road, Lee Center 815-440-5556 stonehomefarm.com The owners of this historic farm, located about 4 miles northeast of Amboy, sell fresh eggs, pork and alpaca yarn.

Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com

The Amboy Clipper corner shows off the city’s team spirit at the Depot Museum.

CONTINUED FROM 19 t

Carson Pirie Scott store plaque 55 S. East Ave. Samuel Carson left Ire-

land in 1854 and found his way to Amboy, where he opened a dry goods store called Carson Pirie & Company. The store became the foundation of the retail department

Temperance Hill Cemetery and Prairie Preserve Off U.S. Route 52 north of Amboy, west of U.S. Route 52 and Inlet Road junction This cemetery, started in 1846, is situated on a fragment of virgin prairie and is an Illinois Nature Preserve.

Three crosses at the end of the cemetery drive mark the site.

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Get to know us...Amboy, Illinois • 2017-2018

AMBOY | CAMPGROUNDS Amboy, with its abundant natural beauty, has long been a popular destination for campers. On an average summer weekend, 35,000 people come to stay at one of the many campgrounds in the Amboy area. On holiday weekends, that number increases to more than 50,000 campers.

The campgrounds are: Green River Oaks Camping Resort 1442 Sleepy Hollow Road 815-857-2815 greenriveroaks.com Mendota Hills Campground 642 U.S. Route 52 815-849-5930 mendotahillscampground. com

O’Connell’s Yogi Bear Jellystone Park 970 Green Wing Road 815-857-3860 jellystoneamboy.com Pine View Campgrounds 1273 Sleepy Hollow Road 815-857-3964 pineviewcampgrounds.com

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AMBOY | RAILROAD HISTORY

Trains delivered progress

R

ailroads gave Illinois the boost it needed to flourish in the mid1800s. Trains provided farmers with a way to ship their produce to other regions to make a profit. Industries could bring in needed materials and ship out finished products. Each brought needed growth and development to Illinois.

The Amboy Depot, headquarters for the Northern Division of the Illinois Central Railroad, was a key stop along that journey.

Without the railroad, there couldn’t be any farms or industry.

The Illinois Central line was built in the 1850s. Unlike many other railroads being constructed at the time, it ran north to south.

Its main line ran from Cairo to East Dubuque, and eventually a branch line to Chicago was added.

To help the railroad’s employees in their duties, the line was divided into divisions, roughly 100 to 125 miles long.

Employees would board at one end of the division, work to 22

Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com

Dan Etheridge, of Amboy, scrapes loose paint off of the steam engine next to the Amboy Depot Museum in May 2016. Etheridge was getting the engine ready for a fresh coat of paint.

Highlighting Amboy’s history • A 1929 0-8-0 steam engine built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works as switcher No. 8376 for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad but last used as a switcher at the Northwestern steel and Wire Mil in Sterling.

• A 1915 Norfolk and Western wooden caboose No. 518125, built in Roanoke, Virginia.

• The Palmer School, a fully restored, furnished, one-room schoolhouse built in 1924 on state Route 26, 6 miles west of Amboy and moved to the complex. the end of it and then return on a different train to complete their workday. Each division had its own headquarters. Because

Amboy was the division’s headquarters, it had a much larger depot than many other towns along the line.

Get to know us...Amboy, Illinois • 2017-2018

The original depot, built in 1855, also contained a hotel. It was destroyed by a fire in 1875, and replaced a year later with the current brick and Joliet limestone building.

The 19-room depot had space for administrative personnel, tools and supplies needed to operate the division.

At the height of its operation, Illinois Central had 400 people working on the railroad.

Any number of passenger or freight trains could pass through the Amboy station on a given day because there were no set schedules in the railroad’s early days. Because the line

had only one track, the dispatchers had to keep in communication by telegraph to ensure there were no collisions.

As the years passed, the Illinois Central eventually extended to New Orleans and connected with each east-west line it passed.

The main line began to see less and less use, though, as more traffic was directed toward Chicago.

Eventually, the main line became the branch line and went into a long, slow decline, although the records never formally changed the Chicago line to the main line.

Passenger traffic ended

along the Northern Division in the 1930s, but freight trains continued to use it. By the 1980s, use of the line was deemed unnecessary, and it was closed.

The Amboy Depot fell into disrepair from lack of use until a group of concerned citizens began expressing an interest in it in the early 1970s. They formed the depot committee and began a volunteer effort to preserve and restore the historic building.

In the past decade, they have brought the depot back to life, and now the museum and complex are filled with displays highlighting Amboy’s history.

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AMBOY | DEPOT DAYS

Four days of fun for all

D

epot Days, a 4-day festival held every year on the weekend before Labor Day, celebrates the town’s railroad heritage. It also brings out the best in antique and classic cars, trucks and tractors, while providing plenty of fun activities for the entire family.

The highlight is the car show. It’s one of the largest in Illinois, often attracting more than 450 vehicles to the downtown shopping district.

Photos by Peter Balser/pbalser@saukvalley.com

Miss Amboy 2017 Abril Vazquez-Tapia digs through tickets to pull out a winner for the Amboy Depot Days’ 50-50 raffle.

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Get to know us...Amboy, Illinois • 2017-2018

There are more than 35 classes of vehicles at the show, including restored classics, muscle cars, street rods, modified vehicles and unique, special interest vehicles. Another group of vehicles that always attracts attention is the Best of the Best class; members of the Amboy Car Show Committee attend other car shows in the Sauk Valley area each summer and invite the winners of those shows to Depot Days.

Those who prefer looking at tractors will want to attend the antique farm tractor show.

There is a carnival, petting zoo and fireworks to entertain the children, as well as a craft show, food stands, beer garden, parade, a 5K run/walk, and free live entertainment throughout the weekend. Other events include community-wide garage sales, the announcement of Miss Amboy, and a Little Mister and Miss Amboy event.

Food

GOOD

Mike Ballard of Franklin Grove checks out a 2015 Ferrari 458 Italia Spider during the car, truck and motorcycle show at Amboy Depot Days.

For more information Go to depotdays.com or call 815-8573814 for more information, including a complete list of Depot Day activities.

Another major highlight: the annual 50-50 raffle. The 2017 first-place winner took home $110,885. The second-place winner took home $20,000 and the third-place winner took home $5,000.

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AMBOY | HEALTH CARE

Keeping people healthy

T

he Amboy community is served by two area hospitals, a clinic and a nursing and therapeutic care facility.

KSB Hospital is 13 miles north of Amboy in Dixon. KSB also operates a medical clinic in Amboy. OSF Saint Paint Medical Center is 16 miles south of town in Mendota. Maple Crossing at Amboy Rehabilitation & Memory Care is on the north side of town.

KSB Hospital Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital is an 80-bed acute-care facility founded more than 115 years ago.

Along with the typical services a hospital provides, KSB offers a balance center, cancer center, diabetes center, foot and ankle center, sleep lab, occupational therapy, and hospice and home nursing care, among several other medical services.

In 2006, KSB opened a $3 million, state-of-the-art cardiovascular services lab and endoscopy area. And in 2011, it completed a $16 million expansion of the outpatient surgery and emergency departments.

In spring 2014, a newly renovated Intensive Care Unit was opened.

OSF Saint Paul Medical Center Mendota Community Hospital, now named OSF Saint Paul Medical Center, opened its doors in June 1951. An entirely new, acute-care facility was opened in 2011, employing more than 300 people.

It’s the newest member of the OSF Healthcare System and was welcomed into the Ministry in April 2015.

The hospital has a 24/7, physicianstaffed emergency room and an intensive care unit. It offers other 26

Serving Amboy KSB Hospital 403 E. First St., Dixon 815-288-5531 ksbhospital.com KSB Center for Health Services – Amboy Clinic 308 E. Joe Drive 815-857-3044 ksbhospital.com Maple Crossing at Amboy 15 W. Wasson Road 815-857-2550 facebook.com/maplecrossingamboy OSF Saint Paul Medical Center 1401 E. 12th St. (U.S. Route 34), Mendota 815-539-7461 osfhealthcare.org/saint-paul

services, including cardiopulmonary care, gastroenterology, nephrology, neurology, oncology, podiatry, pulmonology, rheumatology, and surgery.

A community health services department provides occupational health services, drug testing, and a variety of public programming and screenings throughout the year to promote public awareness and offer early detection or warning for certain diseases.

It also offers home health services, magnetic resonance imaging, a CT scanner, and it has its own rehabilitation services department.

Maple Crossing at Amboy The 97-bed rehabilitation and memory care offers short-term care for patients recovering from illness and injury, and long-term care for people who no longer can remain at home.

It also features a 17-bed Alzheimer’s and dementia unit.

Get to know us...Amboy, Illinois • 2017-2018

AMBOY | NUMBERS TO NOTE Service providers Amboy Water Department 227 E. Main St. 815-857-3814, cityofamboy.org Allied Waste 1214 S. Bataan Road, Dixon 815-284-2432 republicservices.com/corporate/ home.aspx ComEd (electricity) 919 W. First St., Dixon 800-334-7661, comed.com

Other need-to-know numbers Amboy City Hall 227 E. Main St. 815-857-3814, cityofamboy.org Lee County Clerk 112 E. Second St., Dixon 815-288-3309, leecountyil.com Lee County Treasurer 112 E. Second St. 815-288-4477, leecountyil.com

Comcast (cable/Internet) 115 N. Galena Ave., Dixon 800-934-6489, comcast.com

Lee County Chief of Assessments 112 E. Second St., Dixon 815-288-4483, leecountyil.com

Lee County Animal Control 112 E. Second St., Dixon 815-288-5135, 815-284-3833

Pankhurst Memorial Library 3 S. Jefferson Ave. 815-857-3925, amboy.lib.il.us

Nicor (gas) 1844 Ferry Road, Naperville 888-642-6748, nicor.com

Post Office 215 E. Division St. 815-857-2212, usps.com

Verizon 800-483-4600, verizon.com

Amboy Community Unit School District 272 11 E. Hawley St. 815-857-2164, amboy.net

Amboy Community Building 280 W. Wasson Road 815-857-2324, cityofamboy.org City Maintenance Building 1 Water St., 815-857-2422 Illinois Secretary of State (driver/vehicle services) 925 S. Peoria Ave., Dixon 815-288-6685 The Telegraph 113 S. Peoria Ave. Ste. 1, Dixon 815-284-2222

Nonemergency numbers Amboy Police Department 227 E. Main St., 815-857-3400 Fire department, ambulance 25 N. East Ave., 815-857-2325 Lee County Sheriff’s Department 306 S. Hennepin Ave., Dixon, 815-284-5217 In an emergency, call 911

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