In force, 19th Jan.[January] 1837.
Commissioners to view road
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That Richard H. Churchill and Walter Houston, of McDonough county, and Reason Redman, of Warren county, be and are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark out, and locate a State
road, to commence at Macomb in McDonough county, running with the county road as near as practicable to section
twenty-one in township seven north, in range four west, thence to section six, in
same township, thence the nearest and most eligible route to the Mississippi river, in Warren county, opposite the town of Burlington in Wisconsin territory.
Time of meeting.
To take oath
Sec. 2. The commissioners aforesaid, or a majority of them, shall meet at Macomb on the first Monday of May next, or in three months thereafter, and before entering
on the duties assigned them by this act, shall take an oath before some justice of the peace faithfully and impartially to
locate said road, keeping in view the shortness of the route and the eligibility of
the ground, so as to make the same a permanent road.
To make out a map.
County commissioners to return map to county commis’rs’ court
Sec. 3. Said commissioners, so soon as they shall have completed said work, shall make out
a map under their hands with the courses, distances, streams, notable places, with
such estimates and remarks as they shall deem interesting, and return the same to the county commissioners’ court of each county through which the same shall pass, of the portion lying and being
in each county, which shall be recorded at length in said courts.
To makeallowance to viewers &c.[etc.]
Sec. 4. The map and report being filed, in pursuance of the third (section) of this act,
the whole bill of expenses shall be made out, and presented to the county commissioners’ court of the counties of McDonough and Warren, who shall make an allowance therefor for the sums severally due, allowing the commissioners
and each necessary hand employed a liberal compensation, the expenses of which shall
be equally paid by said counties in proportion to the extent of the road in the same.
To cause road to be opened
Sec. 5. The county commissioners courts of the aforesaid counties shall cause the said road to be opened so soon as practicable,
worked and kept in repair as other State roads are.2
Approved 19th January, 1837.
1On December 12, 1836, William Edmonston presented to the House of Representatives a petition requesting a road from Macomb to Burlington. The House referred the petition to a select committee, which reported HB 18 to the House on December 20. The House passed the bill without amendment on January
6, 1837. On January 9, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee, which reported back the bill without amendment
on January 11. The Senate passed the bill on January 12. On January 19, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 32, 83-84, 162, 190, 248, 280, 286, 298; Illinois Senate
Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 169, 172, 178, 193, 200, 237, 240.
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.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 236, GA Session: 10-1,