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In force Feb.[February] 25th, 1837.
AN ACT to relocate part of the state road from Springfield to Peoria.
1
Commissioners appointed.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Reuben Merryman, Evans E. Brittain, and Josiah B. Smith of the county of Sangamon, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to view, mark, and relocate that part of the state road2 leading from Springfield to Peoria, which lies between the Sangamon river and the south end of Enoch Smith’s lands,3 commencing at the present contemplated bridge across said river, (near Carpenter’s ferry)4 and running from point to point on a direct line, or as nearly so as the situation of the ground over which the same may pass, and the security to private property will admit.
Shall meet at place of beginning.
Shall be sworn.
Shall file a true map.
Sec. 2. The said commissioners or a majority of them, shall meet at the place of beginning on the second Monday in March next, or within two months thereafter, and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace proceed faithfully and impartially to relocate said road as directed in the preceding section, and within one month thereafter shall make out and file in the county commissioners court of said county, a true map or plat of the same, and said court shall cause the same to be opened at least fifty feet wide, and kept in repair as other state roads are.
Compensation.
Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall be allowed a reasonable compensation for their services, to be paid out of the county treasury of said county.
This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
Approved February, 25th 1837.
1On January 20, 1837, William F. Elkin in the House of Representatives presented the petition of citizens of Sangamon County, requesting the alteration of a state road. The House referred the petition to a select committee. In response to this petition, Elkin of the select committee introduced HB 172 in the House on February 3. On February 8, the House passed the bill. On February 22, the Senate passed the bill. On February 25, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 306, 463, 520, 673, 694, 720; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 377, 481, 488, 514.
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.
3Located on the south end of Middletown in Logan County.
The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1879), 361.
4A small ferry operated by William Carpenter, whose home became an important point on the state road from Peoria to Springfield known as the “six mile house.”
John Carroll Power and Mrs. S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 187.

Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 200, GA Session: 10-1