Whenever the legal voters of any territory have, for at least 20 years preceding the effective date of this Act, elected town officers, who have levied taxes and have performed the functions of and acted as the corporate authorities of an incorporated town, and the court records of the incorporation of such territory as an incorporated town have been destroyed and the records in the office of the Secretary of State are missing or are incomplete, such territory is declared to be validly organized and incorporated as an incorporated town and all acts taken in reliance upon such organization, including any annexations to such an incorporated town from the date of organization to the effective date of this Act, are validated.