Bullitt County History

Bullitt County Turnpike Road Company

The Kentucky General Assembly, in 1869, passed an act to incorporate the Bullitt County Turnpike Road Company. This Act is transcribed below, and is taken from Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 1869, pages 168-9.


CHAPTER 1287.

AN ACT to incorporate the Bullitt County Turnpike Road Company.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:

§ l. That the organization existing in the county of Bullitt, known as the Bullitt County Plank Road Company, formed for the purpose of constructing a plank road from the Jefferson county line to the town of Shepherdsville, shall hereafter be known as the Bullitt County turnpike road company.

§ 2. That the election of Jilson P. Johnson as president and H. C. Crist and George C. Shanklin as managers of said company, at a meeting held on the 31st day of October, 1868, shall be, and is hereby declared, legal; and the officers elected as aforesaid shall be held to be, and are declared to have been, duly elected; and they are hereby created a body-politic and corporate, in fact and in law, by the name and style of the Bullitt County turnpike road company, with the privileges and franchises of a corporation; shall be capable of holding their capital stock, and the increase and profits thereof, and holding, by purchase, gift, or otherwise, all things proper and necessary for the prosecution of their work, with power and authority to condemn lands for their roadway, and for the erection of such buildings and toll-houses as are required, and such timber, stone, gravel, and earth as may be needed in building and repairing their road in accordance with and in the manner prescribed in section 18, chapter 54, of the Revised Statutes. They shall continue in office for one year from the date of their election, and until their successors are elected and qualified. They shall have power to contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, in all courts of law and equity, and generally to do all and every act or thing lawful for a corporation to effect the object for which said corporation is created.

§ 3. That the said president and managers shall have power to run said road at any degree of elevation they may think proper, and also to fix upon the width of the grade and the width and depth of the stone or gravel to be used on same.

§ 4. They are authorized, upon the completion of two and one half miles of said road, to erect a toll-gate, and to collect one half tolls; and to enable them to complete said road, they are hereby empowered to establish and collect such rates of tolls as will secure to the company an income not exceeding six per cent on the capital stock of the road, said income to be appropriated to the completion of the road and bridges; and this latter right shall not be abridged from the inability of the company to construct the bridges on said road.

§ 5. Said corporation may, by contract, provide for the building of any lateral road by additional subscriptions of stock, and admitting the subscribers thereto as original stockholders, upon such terms as may be agreed upon.

§ 6. That the provisions of the Revised Statutes under which the Bullitt County Plank Road Company organized shall apply to the Bullitt County turnpike road company, and are declared to be part of this charter, so far as the same are applicable and are not altered or changed hereby.

§ 7. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.

Approved January 22, 1869.


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The Bullitt County History Museum, a service of the Bullitt County Genealogical Society, is located in the county courthouse at 300 South Buckman Street (Highway 61) in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. The museum, along with its research room, is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Saturday appointments are available by calling 502-921-0161 during our regular weekday hours. Admission is free. The museum, as part of the Bullitt County Genealogical Society, is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization and is classified as a 509(a)2 public charity. Contributions and bequests are deductible under section 2055, 2106, or 2522 of the Internal Revenue Code. Page last modified: 12 Jan 2024 . Page URL: bullittcountyhistory.org/bchistory/bcturnpikecompany.html