Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force February 10, 1837.

AN ACT granting a lot of land to the town of Chicago for the burial of the dead.
1

Inhabitants may use a lot of canal land for a burial ground.

Proviso.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That the inhabitants of the town of Chicago under the direction of the president and trustees of said town, are hereby authorised and

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permitted to use a lot of canal land situated near the said town for a burial ground, being the east half of the south east quarter of section number thirty-three, in township number forty, range fourteen east of the third principal meridian:2 Provided the president and trustees of said town will by an order to be entered upon the records of their proceedings, engage and agree to pay to the State of Illinois whatever sum the said land may be valued at by the agents of the State, whenever the State shall authorise a sale of the canal lands in the vicinity of the town of Chicago: the said land to be valued at the same price of other canal lands of a like quality and situation and without regard to the use to which it is applied.

Title to be vested in president and trustees.

To remain a public burying ground.

Sec. 2. When the land described in the foregoing section shall be paid for as therein provided, the title to the same shall be vested in the president and trustees of the town of Chicago and their successors for ever; but the said trustees shall not thereby acquire the right to sell, dispose of or lease the said land or any part thereof, but the same shall forever remain for a public burying ground and shall never be used for any other purpose: Provided that the trustees may lay off a part thereof for the burial of the citizens of Chicago, and a part from the burial of strangers and transient persons, and make such other subdivision thereof as may be deemed necessary to the public convenience.3

Approved 10th Feb., 1837.

1On December 30, 1836, Peter Pruyne in the Senate presented the petition of sundry citizens of Chicago, requesting authority to purchase certain lands. The Senate referred the petition to the Committee on Canals and Canal Lands. In response to this petition, William Thomas of the Committee on Canals and Canal Lands introduced SB 51 in the Senate on January 5, 1837. The Senate passed the bill on January 7. The House of Representatives concurred on February 6. On February 10, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 199, 253, 389, 426, 487, 530, 544; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 127, 152, 163, 171, 360, 373, 383-84, 389.

2The land described here is in the northeast corner of the city of Chicago, lying alongside Lake Michigan.

3The city of Chicago did establish a cemetery on the land described in this act. The City Cemetery was situated on what is now the southern end of Lincoln Park. It composed part of a large cemetery complex, which included Catholic and Jewish cemeteries to the south. Due to public health concerns, Chicago’s sanitary superintendent recommended abandonment of the cemetery as early as 1858, but burials continued in the City Cemetery until 1866.
A. T. Andreas, History of Chicago (Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1884), 141-42, 179, 522; Helen Sclair, “Cemeteries,” in James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating, and Janice L. Reiff,and , eds., Encyclopedia of Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 123-24.