Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force March 2, 1837

AN ACT to locate a State road from Ellisville in Fulton county, to Macomb in McDonough county, and to declare a certain road therein named, a State road.
1
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Levi D. Ellis, Abner Walker, and Jesse McGinnis, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to mark, view, and locate a state road2 on the nearest and most eligible route from Ellisville in Fulton county, to Macomb in McDonough county.

Shall meet in
Time of meeting

Shall be sworn

Duties

To make a map of road

Sec. 2. Said commissioners or a majority of them, shall meet in the town of Ellisville, on the first Monday in June next, or within two months thereafter, and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace, to the faithful and impartil discharge of their duties, shall proceed to mark, view, and locate said road in accordance with the provisions of the first section of this act, and shall within twenty days after having discharged their duties as above provided, file or cause to be filed, with the clerk of the commissioners’ court of the respective counties through which said road may pass, a complete map of said road, noting the important points, and said map, so filed, shall be preserved as other records of said court.

Compensation

Declared a state road.

Sec. 3. The county commissioners’ courts of the respective counties through which said road may pass, shall allow to said commissioners, surveyors, chain carriers &c.[etc.] a reasonable compensation for their services, to be paid out of the county treasuries of said counties. Said road, when located, shall be opened and worked in the same manner as other state roads.

Sec. 4. The road from Lewiston in Fulton county, passing by the town of Fulton in said county, to Macomb in McDonough county, is hereby declared a state road, and shall be opened and worked as other public highways of this State are.

This act to be in force and take effect from and after its passage.

Approved March 2, 1837.

1William A. Minshall introduced HB 166 in the House of Representatives on February 3, 1837. The House passed the bill on February 8. The Senate passed the bill on March 1. On March 2, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 457, 520, 775, 792, 806; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 377, 480, 564, 589.

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.