Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Jan.[January ] 18, 1836.

AN ACT for the permanent establishment of so much of the road from Vandalia to Hillsboro’, as lies between Vandalia and Daniel Browning’s, and for other purposes.
1

Commissioners appointed

When & where to meet.

To report.

Road to be opeded and kept in repair.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Joseph Chaffin, Easton Whitten, and Thomas C. Kirkman, or a majority of them, be, and they are hereby required to meet at Vandalia on the tenth day of March next, or within ten days thereafter, and proceed to view, mark and locate a road, commencing at the state house in Vandalia, and running on the most direct and eligible route to Daniel Browning’s on the Hillsboro road, and after they have performed said duty, they are hereby required, to examine the road as at present travelled, by Capt. Peter Smith’s, E. C. Berry’s, Jesse Estes’ and S. P. Gorin’s, to said Daniel Browning’s: taking into consideration the dryness and eligibility of both routes and report their proceedings, and decision, to the next county commissioners court thereafter; and the route they shall select, as being the best and most eligible, shall be, and is hereby declared the state road from the place of beginning, to the said Daniel Browning’s, any law to the contrary notwithstanding. And the county commissioners court of Fayette county, are hereby required to cause the same to be opened and kept in repair, as other state roads in this state.2

Compensation.

Sec. 2. The county commissioners’ court of Fayette county, shall make such allowance to said commissioners, for their services, and for surveying said routs, as to them shall appear reasonable and just, payable out of the county treasury of said county.

Road changed near Bowlingreen.

Sec. 3. That so much of the state road leading from Vandalia to Shelbyville, as passes near the town of Bowlingreen in Fayette county be, and the same is hereby altered and changed so as to pass through main street in said town, so soon as Thomas C. Kirkman and Bowling Jones, proprietors of said town shall open said street. This act to be in force from and after its passage.

Approved, Jan. 18, 1836.

1Responding to a petition from citizens of Fayette County, Robert Blackwell introduced HB 85 in the House of Representatives on December 29, 1835. The House passed the bill unamended on January 4. The Senate passed the bill unamended on January 16. On January 18, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 161, 193, 196, 220, 350, 368; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 171, 271, 286, 289.

2State roads were those public roads established or designated by the General Assembly and usually crossed county lines. Only the General Assembly could establish, alter, or abandon state roads, until 1840 and 1841, when the General Assembly gave counties the authority to alter or to abandon state roads upon petition by a majority of voters in the area of the change.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.