Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force 20th July, 1837.

AN ACT to amend an Act, entitled an Act to extend the corporate powers of the Town of Peoria, approved February 21, 1837.
1

Shall negotiate loan or loans.

Not to exceed $50,000.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That in addition to the powers conferred upon the board of trustees of the town of Peoria, by the above recited act, the said board is hereby authorized to negotiate a loan or loans, upon the faith and credit of the corporation, of any sum or sums of money, not exceeding in the whole amount fifty thousand dollars, at any interest not exceeding seven per cent. per annum, for a period of time not exceeding fifteen years, the interest and principal, payable at such time and places, as may be agreed on by the parties to the loans; and the said board is hereby to pledge irrevocably, all or any part of the revenue of the corporation, and all or any part of its property of any description whatsoever, for the payment of the interest upon said loan, and the reimbursement of the principal as the same becomes due and payable. The said board shall also be authorized to pledge all the profits and interest which may accrue from thence on application of the money borrowed, for the aforesaid purpose of paying the interest and reimbursing the money borrowed as aforesaid.

Certificates of stock.

Proviso.

Sec. 2. It shall be deemed a good execution of the

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power to borrow on the part of the said board, to cause to be constituted certificates of stock for the said loan, to be called the “Peoria Loan,” to be signed by the president of the board, and countersigned by the treasurer, under the seal of the corporation, and to cause the said certificates of stock to be sold: Provided, That no stock shall be sold for less than its par value. And the said board are authorized to take and use all proper means and measures for the transferring of the said stock.

Bridge across Illinois river.

Extension of time.

Sec. 3. The money borrowed under the provisions of this act, or such part thereof as may be deemed proper, shall be vested in the stock of the “Peoria Bridge Company,” so as to enable the company to build the bridge across the Illinois river at Peoria;2 and if the whole is not so vested, the remainder may be applied to such purposes of improvement within the town, as may be deemed best calculated to advance the interest of the town. There is hereby allowed two years, in addition to the time allowed by the charter of the Peoria bridge company, for the completion of the said bridge.

Approved, 20th July, 1837.

1John Hamlin introduced SB 29 in the Senate on July 15, 1837. The Senate passed the bill on July 17. The House of Representatives passed it on the same day. On July 20, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1837. 10th G. A., special sess., 91, 95, 124; Illinois Senate Journal. 1837. 10th G. A., special sess., 56, 72-73, 79, 108-9, 114-15.

2Providing passage over the Illinois River at the southwestern end of Peoria Lake, where the river channel narrows and the town of Peoria developed, was a profitable business after an influx of settlers to the area in the mid-1830s. Either a ferry or a bridge could reap substantial profits, and competing interests led to litigation and legislation. In 1835, the Illinois General Assembly incorporated the Peoria Bridge Company, and allowed them four years to build a bridge. This act authorized the town of Peoria to obtain a loan to build the bridge and extended the deadline for completion by two years. Also in 1835, the Peoria County Commissioners’ Court granted Henry W. Cleveland a license to operate the first steam ferry across the Illinois River at Peoria. Aquila Wren purchased the ferry in 1837, but Robert Moore and James Moore also obtained a license to run a ferry there. In 1840, the Illinois General Assembly gave William L. May, who had purchased the Bigelow and Underhill ferry, license to operate a ferry at Peoria for fifteen years. In 1841, the General Assembly reissued May’s license, giving him “sole” right to operate a ferry at that point and forbidding the county commissioners’ courts of Peoria and Tazewell counties from granting any more licenses to competing ferries. May had to sue several rivals in the early 1840s to protect his ferriage rights. In 1845, the General Assembly gave William L. May and his associates a charter to build a bridge over the Illinois River at Peoria. The bridge was built in 1848, but carried away by the ice in the Spring of 1849. The corporation rebuilt the bridge, and it reopened in October 1849.
Newton Bateman, Paul Selby, and David McCulloch, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 2 vols. (Chicago: Munsell Publishing Company, 1902), 2:265-66; An Act to Incorporate the Peoria Bridge Company (1835); An Act to Establish a Ferry across the Illinois River (1840); An Act to Establish a Ferry across the Illinois River (1841); Moore & Beach v. May (1841), May v. Moore et al. (1842), May v. Greene & Loose (1844), Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009); “An Act to authorize the construction of a toll bridge across the Illinois river,” 3 March 1845, Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Fourteenth General Assembly, at Their Regular Session (1845), 237-38.