*Colonel Plum 

  Born: March 24, 1845

   Died: April 28, 1927 

*Home donated for the town library

* Started Lilacia Park

* Lombard now called the "Lilac Village"
 
 

*Helen Plum 

   Born: July 17, 1845

   Died: March 25, 1924
 
 

Lombard owes its library and Lilacia Park to Colonel William Plum and his wife, Helen. Colonel Plum was a telegraph officer during the Civil War. After the war, he moved to Lombard and became an important man in town. He was the first village clerk. He helped to build the First Church of Lombard. Colonel Plum was also an author. He wrote The History of the Military Telegraph Corps During the Civil 
War and The Sword and the Soul.

In 1910, Colonel Plum and his wife went on a trip to Europe. When they came back, they brought back two kinds of lilac bushes to plant in their garden. This was the beginning of what was to be Lilacia Park.  Today there are over 200 kinds of lilacs
in the park.

When Colonel Plum died in 1927, he donated his house to be used as the town's library and the gardens were to be a park. The house became the first Helen M. Plum Memorial Library. In 1962, the village voted to construct a new building for 
the library on the same land where Colonel Plum's house once stood.