In force, Feb.[February] 17, 1841.
An ACT to locate permanently the seat of justice of Logan county.
1Location of county seat
Sec. [Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the seat of justice for the county of Logan, be, and the same is hereby declared to be permanently located at the town of Postville, in said county.2
Proprietors of Postville to pay $3,000
Sec. 2. The proprietor or proprietors of the said town of Postville, shall, by the first day of June next, pay to the county commissioners of the county of Logan, the sum of three thousand dollars: Provided, however, That the value of all donations heretofore made by the proprietors for the use of
the said county shall be included in and form a part of the aforesaid sum of three thousand dollars.
Payment to be made in money or lots
Sec. 3. The payment of the above donation may be made in money, or in town lots in the town
of Postville, or both, at the option of the donors; and the county commissioners are hereby authorized to receive donations of town lots, the value of which shall
be agreed upon by the county commissioners and the parties donating the same.
County commiss’rs to sell lots
Sec. 4. The county commissioners of Logan county shall proceed to sell, at public or private sale, such portions of any town lots that may be donated, and at such times as in their
judgment will produce the greatest amount of money and be conducive to the best interests
of the county; the sales may be made on a credit of six, twelve and eighteen months, the purchaser
giving a mortgage on the premises and approved security for the payment of the purchase
money: Provided, That if the proprietors of the said town of Postville shall not within ninety days from the passage of this act, comply with the provisions
of this act on their part, then this act is to be null and void, and the county commissioners of said county are required to select some place as the temporary county seat, other than Postville, which place so selected shall be and remain the county seat of said county, until the end of the next regular or special session of the General Assembly.3
Approved, February 17, 1841.
1On January 28, 1841, John Moore introduced SB 136 in the Illinois Senate. On February 3, the Senate amended the bill by adding a proviso to the fourth section.
The Senate passed the bill as amended. On February 11, the House of Representatives passed the bill. On February 17, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 320, 329, 370; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 216, 231, 234-35, 298, 323, 336.
2Despite the passage of this act, citizens in northern and eastern Logan County soon wanted to create a new county from portions of Logan, McLean, and DeWitt counties, with Waynesville as the county seat. Likewise, citizens of Mt. Pulaski wanted their town to be the county seat of a new county from portions of Logan, Sangamon, and Macon counties. When the issue came to a vote in April 1847, the majority of voters chose
to move the county seat from Postville to Mt. Pulaski. However, provisions in the
Illinois Constitution of 1848 put an end to most hopes for new counties, and county
citizens voted in November 1853 to return the county seat to the center of Logan County
to the new town of Lincoln.
“An Act for the removal of the seat of justice of Logan county,” 22 February 1847,
Private and Special Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Fifteenth General
Assembly (Springfield, IL: Charles H. Lanphier, 1847), 31-32; “An Act for the relocation of
the county seat of Logan county,” 14 February 1853, General Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eighteenth General Assembly (Springfield, IL: Lanphier & Walker, 1853), 153-54; History of Logan County, Illinois (Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co., 1886), 221-28.
3On February 3, 1841, the Senate added the proviso to this section.
Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 234-35.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841), 96, GA Session 12-2,