Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Feb[February] 24th, 1837

AN ACT to change a part of a certain road therein named.
1

Part of the road leading from Gilead to Rushville.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That so much of the state road leading from Gilead to Rushville, commencing at a point where the location of said road crosses, (bearing east and west) between the northwest and south west quarter of section number one, in township six south range four west, thence a northeast direction to the line of survey (bearing north and south) dividing section thirty-six, township five south in said range, a few rods southeast from James McNary’s house, and about forty or fifty rods from the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of section thirty-six aforesaid, thence through the southeast corner of said last mentioned quarter section, thence north with said line of survey until it intersects the above mentioned location, the whole distance about one and a half miles.

County road vacated

Sec. 2. All that part of the county road leading from Clarksville, lying and being between Highland school house and said McNary’s be, and the same is hereby vacated.

This act to take effect from and after its passage.2

Approved Feb. 24th, 1837.

1On January 25, 1837, William Ross, a member of a select committee considering the petition of citizens from Pike County to change a state road, introduced SB 120 in the Senate. On February 2, the Senate passed the bill. On February 20, the House of Representatives passed the bill. On February 24, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 452, 590, 652, 678; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 291-292, 328, 336, 470, 492,512-513.

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.