Often, I am asked what the heck is the Chamber of Commerce? To start any explanation, it often helps to provide a historical perspective.
Thus, this week’s column will focus on when and why the Chamber was founded.
A History teacher would say, “History helps us understand our own society.” Engrained in our society are the over 300,000 Chamber of Commerce organizations with over 3 million members in the United States, not including international membership.
The first collection of businesses using the term “chamber of commerce” was documented in 1599 in Marseilles, France. The idea caught on and spread to Germany and eventually throughout Europe.
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Founded in the aftermath of World War I in a desire for a world with systems of governed trade, investment, finance, and commercial relations, the international chamber of commerce, commonly referred to as the ICC, began. A handful of entrepreneurs decided to create an organization to represent business everywhere. Today, ICC is the institutional representative of more than 45 million companies in over 100 countries. Their mission is to make business work for everyone, every day, everywhere.
The US Chamber of Commerce, USCC, was formed in 1912. The US Chamber states that “their foundational believe is in the ability of American businesses to improve lives, solve problems, and strengthen society.” One of the purposes of USCC is to inform businesses with timely policy analysis and legal advice, connect them with leaders in business and government through events and equip them with tools and resources to help them succeed. The USCC is the largest lobbying group in the United States, representing over three million businesses and organizations. The U.S. Chamber has advocated for policies that help businesses create jobs and grow our economy.
My next column will focus on the Illinois Chamber and how local Chamber organizations relate to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Chamber.
My Town: Clint Walker’s memories of Coles County as pulled from the archives
Cosmic Blue Comics
From the Nov. 22, 1992, Journal Gazette, this photo of Cosmic Blue Comics in Mattoon; where I spent virtually every Saturday afternoon for about two years. That small back room you see just off to the right of the Coca-Cola sign was where they kept the many, and I mean many, long-boxes of back issues. I still own my bagged copy of “Tales of the Beanworld” issue No. 1 that I found back there. Sadly, this location is now just a “greenspace”.
Mattoon Arcade
Pictured, Shelbyville’s Bob Murray from the June 2, 1982, Journal Gazette, displaying his dominance over the TRON arcade game at the “Carousel Time” arcade at the Cross County Mall, later to be the Aladdin’s Castle, soon thereafter to be not a thing anymore. I spent just about every Saturday at that arcade, perhaps with that exact same haircut. No overalls, though. I was more of an “Ocean Pacific” kind of kid.
Icenogle’s
Pictured, from the Nov. 28, 1988, Journal Gazette, Icenogle’s grocery store. Being from Cooks Mills, we didn’t often shop at Icenogle’s…but when we did, even as a kid, I knew it was the way a grocery store is supposed to be in a perfect world, and that’s not just because they had wood floors, comic books on the magazine rack, or plenty, and I mean plenty, of trading cards in wax packs.
Cooks Mills
I had long since moved away from Cooks Mills by the time this Showcase item about Adam’s Groceries ran in the June 13, 1998, Journal Gazette, but there was a time when I very well could have been one of those kids in that photo; for if it was summer, and you had a bike, and you lived in Cooks Mills, that’s where you ended up. At last report, they still had Tab in the Pepsi-branded cooler in the back. I’m seriously considering asking my money guy if I could afford to reopen this place.
Mister Music
Pictured, from the July 16, 1987, Journal Gazette, this ad for Mister Music, formerly located in the Cross County Mall. I wasn’t buying records at that age, but I would eventually, and that’s where it all went down. If you don’t think it sounds “cool” to hang out at a record store with your buddies on a Friday night, a piping-hot driver’s license fresh in your wallet, you’d be right. But it’s the best a geek like me could do. Wherever you are today, owners of Mister Music, please know that a Minutemen album I found in your cheap bin changed my life.
Sound Source Guitar Throw
Portrait of the author as a young man, about to throw a guitar through a target at that year’s Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest, from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette. Check out my grunge-era hoodie, and yes…look carefully, those are Air Jordans you see on my feet. Addendum: despite what the cutline says, I did not win a guitar.
Pictured, clipped from the online archives at JG-TC.com, a photo from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette of Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest winner, and current JG-TC staff writer, Clint Walker.
Vette’s
Here today, gone tomorrow, Vette’s Teen Club, from the June 20, 1991, Journal Gazette. I wasn’t “cool” enough to hang out at Vette’s back in it’s “heyday,” and by “cool enough” I mean, “not proficient enough in parking lot fights.” If only I could get a crack at it now.
FutureGen
FutureGen: The end of the beginning, and eventually, the beginning of the end, from the Dec. 19, 2007, JG-TC. I wish I had been paying more attention at the time. I probably should have been reading the newspaper.
Doug Abolt is president and CEO for the Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce.
