Inaugural Tonti Award to honor Caterpillar
- Details
- Published on Friday, 14 September 2012 15:20
- Written by Paul Gordon
Award named for Peoria founder to honor those who demonstrate principled leadership
Caterpillar Inc., known for providing principled leadership to civic and not-for-profit organizations throughout the Peoria region, will be the recipient of the inaugural Henri de Tonti Award, the Peoria Historical Society announced.
The award, named after the French explorer and entrepreneur who was among the founders of Peoria more than 300 years ago, will be presented at the inaugural Henri de Tonti Celebration dinner at the Peoria Civic Center on Saturday. The event is open to the public and begins at 6 p.m.
The Peoria Historical Society and Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service at Bradley University will co-host the dinner. Tickets are $150 and can be reserved by calling 674-1921.
The Henri de Tonti Award will be presented annually, not only as an effort to increase name recognition for the Peoria founder who played a pivotal role in the history of North American exploration, but to honor an individual, company or organization for their leadership to the region.
To date the only recognition of de Tonti in Peoria is that a small street bears his name.
For the celebration, Peoria artist Lonnie Stewart created a sculpture of Tonti that will serve as the award.
"We are honored and proud to be chosen as the very first winner of this award. Peoria has been our home for a long time, and we are very proud of our shared histories and look forward to prospering together in the future," said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman. "With our new Visitors Center opening soon and the news of our new headquarters building project in the downtown area, we are committed to continuing our leadership legacy here."
The award recognizes not only the company's commitment to continuous principled leadership, but also the individual efforts of employees who have volunteered and been elected to leadership roles and improved the quality of life for all citizens, the historical society said.
"This is a premier, inaugural opportunity for those in the Tri-County region to come together for the first time with a new collaboration between our Historical Society and the Institute for Principled Leadership to honor the first recipient of the Henri de Tonti Award," said Russ Crawford, Peoria Historical Society president.
He said the society hopes current and past leaders of Caterpillar will attend "so that the community can appropriately say 'thank you' to them, to the company and to the thousands of men and women of Caterpillar throughout the years that have demonstrated leadership by helping our region through their voluntary contribution of time, talents and treasure."
Proceeds from the event will be used to support the Historical Society mission to preserve Peoria's history, Historical Society events, community projects and the two historic houses (Flanigan and Pettengill-Morron).
Founded in 1934, the Peoria Historical Society is a not-for-profit organization committed to the preservation of our local history. The mission is to preserve and celebrate the Peoria area story. PHS offers historical trolley tours, holiday and special events and the archival of significant historical artifacts.
The Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service at Bradley University seeks to become nationally recognized for developing ethical, bipartisan, collaborative and civil leaders for careers in public service.
According to the Peoria Historical Society, Henri de Tonti accompanied Rene-Robert Cavalier, Sieur de LaSalle on his first voyage to the Mississippi River in 1679 when the explorers first reached the Lake Pimiteoui area along the Illinois River and constructed Fort Creve Coeur. The King of France granted Tonti and his trading partners' exclusive trading rights for the Illinois territory. In the fall of 1679, Tonti directed that the trading outpost should be relocated from Starved Rock to the Lake Pimiteoui area.
"It is estimated that Tonti traveled over 85,000 miles by canoe and foot negotiating with Indian tribes, discovering new sources of supply for the fur trade and hiring and supervising voyageurs. He was a talented leader and accomplished negotiator," the PHS said.
Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com
