In force 4th March, 1837.
AN ACT to re-locate the county seat of Calhoun county.
1Seat of justice removed.
Proviso.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That the seat of justice of the county of Calhoun shall be and is hereby removed from its present location in the town of Gilead, and relocated; and the courts hereafter to be held in said county shall be held in the town of Guilford, and the said town of Guilford shall be the permanent county seat of said county: Provided the proprietors or citizens of the said town of Guilford shall donate and deed by general warranty in fee simple to the county of Calhoun a sufficient quantity of
<Page 2>
ground on which to erect the public buildings of said county; also at least twenty building lots in said town, and pay into the county treasury of said county three hundred dollars, to be applied with the proceeds of the sale of the aforesaid
lots in the erection of a court house for said county.
County com’rs to procure building for to hold courts.
Offices to be removed.
Sec. 2. As soon as the provisions of the first section of this act shall have been complied
with, it shall be the duty of the county commissioners of said county to procure some suitable building in the town of Guilford, in which the courts shall be held in, until the necessary public buildings shall
have been erected. The clerks of the circuit and county commissioners’ courts and recorder are hereby required to remove their respective records and keep their
offices at the town of Guilford, and all officers required by law to reside at and keep their offices at the county
seat, are hereby required to keep their offices in said town of Guilford.
County com’rs to sell real estate.
Sec. 3. As soon as convenient after this act shall take effect, the county commissioners of said county shall proceed to sell the public buildings and all the real estate belonging to said
county, and situated in the town of Gilead, in such manner as shall be thought by them to be most beneficial to the interests
of said county, the proceeds of which shall be applied to the erection of new buildings in the town
of Guilford.
Conveyance of lots, when made.
Sec. 4. The conveyance of the town lots required to be made by the proprietors of the town
of Guilford in the first section of this act, shall be made within three months after its passage;
and three hundred dollars required by the same section, to be paid into the county
treasury by them, shall be made at the December term of the county commissioners court in the present year.2
Approved 4th March, 1837.
1On February 9, 1837, John Hamlin introduced SB 177 in the Senate. On February 11, following the addition of sundry amendments by a select committee,
the Senate passed the bill. On March 1, the House passed the bill without further amendment. On March 4, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 556, 676, 778-79, 842; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 372, 387, 389, 395, 575, 625-626, 639-641.
2There is no evidence that Guilford ever served as the seat of Calhoun County. The seat remained at Gilead until 1847.
George W. Carpenter, History of Calhoun County (Jerseyville, IL: Democrat Print, 1934), 15, 27.
Printed Document, 2 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 106-07, GA Session: 10-1