In force Jan.[January] 31, 1835.
AN ACT for the relief of Cook County.
1Commissioner of school lands for said county authorized to loan money to county commissioners.
Rate of interest
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the Commissioner of the School Lands for Cook county, Illinois, be, and he is hereby authorized to loan to the county of Cook a sum of money not exceeding twelve thousand dollars, out of the funds of township
thirty-nine north, range fourteen east, of the third principal meridian in said county,2 at a rate of interest not less than ten per centum per annum, payable semi-annually.
<Page 2>
How expended.
Proviso.
Sec. 2. The money so borrowed by the said county, shall be expended under the direction of the county commissioners of said county, in erecting a Court House in the town of Chicago, in said county; and the said Court House, when so erected, and the ground upon which the same is
situate, and the revenues of the said county are hereby pledged to the school fund of said township for the re-payment of the
money so borrowed: Provided, however, That it shall be discretionary with the said county commissioners to borrow the said
sum of money or not, as they may see proper.
To be a loan for ten years.
Sec. 3. The said sum of money so authorized to be loaned to the said county of Cook, shall be considered a loan to the said county for the term of ten years, but reimbursable at the pleasure of the county commissioners
of said county.
Interest how paid.
Proviso.
Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the county commissioners of said county of Cook, in the event the said loan shall be made, to provide sufficient revenues, by a tax
or otherwise, to pay the interest on the same as it shall become due and payable:
Provided, however, That the corporate authorities of the town of Chicago shall, and they are hereby required to pay, one-fourth of the interest of said loan,
as the same shall become due and payable, out of the Treasury of said corporation.
May loan money on mortgages and good personal security.
Proviso.
Sec. 5. The commissioner of school lands for the said county of Cook, is hereby authorized to loan the school funds of said county, by taking a mortgage upon unincumbered real estate, in double the value of the sum so loaned; and also good and sufficient
individual security: Provided, That all sums of one hundred dollars and under, may be loaned upon good personal
security.3
Approved, Jan. 31, 1831.
1James W. Stephenson introduced SB 65 in the Senate on January 22, 1835. The Senate passed it on January 27. The House of Representatives concurred on January 29. On January 31, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law. Journal of the House of Representatives of the Ninth General Assembly of the State
of Illinois, at their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December
1, 1834 (Vandalia, Ill.: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 412, 415, 435, 452, 460, 461; Journal of the Senate, of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at
their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December 1, 1834 (Vandalia, Ill.: J. W. Sawyer, 1835), 305, 325, 354, 378, 383, 390.
3In the fall of 1835, builders completed a one-story brick courthouse with a basement
on the northeast corner of the square in Chicago, on the corner of Clark and Randolph
streets. The county offices operated in the basement, and the courtroom located on
the main level seated 200 people. The county used this building until 1851, when a
larger building replaced it.
A. T. Andreas, History of Chicago: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, 3 vols. (Chicago: A. T. Andreas: 1884), 1:143, 156 177; http://lincolnpapers2.dataformat.com/images/first cook county courthouse.jpg
Printed Document, 2 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at their First Session (Vandalia, IL:
J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 78-79, GA Session: 9-1