Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

1
A Bill for an act, to vacate a part of the plat of M^cRobert’s and Walker’s addition to the Town of Danville.

Sec[Section] 1 Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois represented in the General Assembly. That so much of Green Street in M^cRobert’s and Walkers’ addition to the Town of Danville, as lies between Jackson Street, in said addition and Harle Street in the old Town plat of Danville, be and the same is here by repealed.

Sec 2 That this act shall be deemed a public act, and be in force from and after its passage.2

<Page 2>

[ docketing ]
N^o9

[ docketing ]
House

[ docketing ]
A Bill for an act to vacate a part of the plat of M^cRoberts’ and Walkers’ addition to the Town of Danville

[ docketing ]
[12]/[21]/[1840]
Judiciary

[ docketing ]
[12]/[15]/[1840]
Engrossed

[ docketing ]
7)

[ docketing ]
7

1On December 5, 1840, John J. Brown in the House of Representatives presented the petition of citizens of Vermilion County, requesting the vacation of certain lots in Danville. The House referred the bill to a select committee. In response to this petition, Brown of the aforesaid select committee introduced HB 23 in the House on December 12. On December 21, the House referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary did not report back the bill.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 72-73, 110-11, 121, 142.

2Illinois experienced a time of intense land speculation in the 1830s that resulted in a number of “paper towns,” settlements that were platted and available for sale but where few or no people actually lived. Many of the proprietors of these settlements abandoned them during and after the Panic of 1837. As a result, the General Assembly received a large number of petitions for vacation during their sessions from 1838 to 1841. In 1841, the legislature passed an act setting parameters for proprietors to vacate town plats themselves. Vacating a plat gave owners greater flexibility in the use, fencing, and sale of the property.
An Act to Vacate Town Plats; Alasdair Roberts, America’s First Great Depression: Economic Crisis and Political Disorder after the Panic of 1837 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012), 19, 33, 38; James E. Davis, Frontier Illinois (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), 210-11; Robert P. Howard, Illinois: A History of the Prairie State (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1972), 196.