In force, Jan.[January] 26, 1841.
An ACT to vacate a part of the town plat of Bennett's addition to the town of Petersburg, in the county of Menard, and authorizing the owners of blocks, in the town of Petersburg and the additions thereto, to close the alleys.
1
Part of plat vacated.
Proviso.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That all that part of the survey and plat of Bennett's addition to the town of Petersburg, in the county of Menard, lying west of blocks one and six, in said addition, be, and the same is hereby vacated: Provided, The assent of the owners of any lots, in so much as is hereby vacated, shall first be obtained, which assent shall be made in writing, and recorded in the recorder's office of said county of Menard.
Alleys may be closed.
Proviso.
Assent of owners to be obtained.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the owner or owners of any block or blocks, in the town of Petersburg, in the county of Menard, or in any of the additions thereto, be, and they are hereby authorized to stop up or enclose the alleys in all such block or blocks: Provided, The assent of all those owning a lot or lots in such block or blocks, be first obtained, which assent shall be made in writing, and acknowledged before some justice of the peace, in said county of Menard, and be recorded in the recorder's office of said county; and the said alleys shall forever remain closed, unless, by consent of those interested, as above mentioned, they shall agree to open the same.
Sec. 3. This act to take effect from and after its passage.2
Approved, January 26, 1841.
1John Bennett introduced HB 9 in the House of Representatives on December 9, 1840. The House passed the bill on December 14. On December 22, the Senate tabled the bill. On January 19, 1841, the Senate took up the bill and passed it. On January 26, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 94, 100, 111, 115, 248, 258, 266, 286; Illinois Senate Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 78, 87, 102, 170, 180.
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.

Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841), 316, GA Session 12-2,