Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That the following is hereby declared to be the boundaries of the town of Grafton, in the county of Greene; that is to say, all of the town, including the additions which is at present laid off into town lots, and the plats of the same recorded in the recorder’s office of said county; and the inhabitants of said town, and all within said boundaries, shall be and they are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of “The President and Trustees of

---

the town of Grafton;” and by that name they and their successors shall be known in law, have perpetual succession, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in all courts of law or equity, and in all matters of action whatsoever; may grant, purchase, and receive and hold property, real or personal, within the said town, and no other, (burial ground excepted;) and may lease, sell, and dispose of the same for the benefit of the town; and may lease any of the reserved lands which have been appropriated by the original proprietors to the use of said town; and may do all other acts as natural persons; may have and use a common seal and break and alter the same at pleasure.

Sec. 2. The corporate powers and duties of said town shall be vested in seven trustees, (to be chosen and appointed as hereafter directed,) who shall elect one of their own number president, and shall form a board for the transaction of business.

Sec. 3. The members, composing the board of trustees, shall be elected by the persons residing within said town and incorporated limits, (qualified to vote for a representative to the legislature,) to serve for one year. They shall be at least twenty-one years of age, citizens of the United States, and inhabitants of said incorporate limits.

Sec. 4. The board of president and trustees shall appoint all officers of their board, and shall be judges of the qualifications, elections, and returns of their own members. A majority shall constitute a board to do all business; but a small number may adjourn from day to day; may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as the board may provide. They may determine the rules of proceedings, punish their members for disorderly conduct, and by the concurrence of two-thirds of the whole number elected expel any member and make such other rules and by-laws for their own government as to them may seem proper and expedient.

Sec. 5. The board of trustees shall have power, by ordinance, to levy and collect taxes upon all real estate within the town and limits of the corporation, not exceeding one half of one per centum upon the assessed value thereof, except as hereafter excepted; to make regulations to secure the general health of the inhabitants; to prevent and remove nuisances; to establish night watches, erect lamps in the streets, and light the same; to provide for licensing public shows; to restrain and prohibit gaming houses, bawdy houses, and other disorderly houses; to establish and repair bridges; to establish and regulate

---

markets; to open and keep in repair streets, avenues, lanes, alleys, drains, and sewers, and keep the same clean; to provide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires; to dig wells and erect pumps in the streets for the convenience of the inhabitants; to regulate the police of the town; to regulate the election of the town officers, and fix their compensation; and from time to time to pass such ordinances, as to carry into effect the objects of this act and the powers hereby granted as the good of the inhabitants may require, and to impose and appropriate fines and forfeitures for the search of any ordinance, and provide for the collection thereof; and that in all cases arising under this act, growing out of the by-laws and ordinances made in pursuance of this act of incorporation; any justice of the peace within the corporation shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine the same, and an appeal may be taken, and writs of certiorari allowed from any such decision in the same manner as now is or hereafter may be provided by law for appealling from judgments of justices of the peace.

Sec. 6. That upon the application of the owners of two-thirds of the front of the lots on any street or parts of a street, it shall be lawful for the board of trustees to lay and collect a special tax on the owners of the lots on said street or parts of a street, according to their respective fronts, for the purpose of grading and paving the side walks on said street.

Sec. 7. The board of president and trustees shall have power to regulate, grade, pave, and improve the streets, avenues, lanes, and alleys within the limits of said town and corporation, and to extend, open, and widen the same, making the persons injured thereby adequate compensation, to ascertain which the board shall cause to be summoned twelve good and lawful men, freeholders and inhabitants of said town not directly interested, who, (being first duly sworn for that purpose,) shall inquire into and take into consideration as well the benefits as the injury which may accrue, and estimate and assess the damages which would be sustained by reason of the opening, extension, widening of any street, avenue, lane, or alley; and shall moreover estimate the amount which other persons will be benefitted thereby, and shall contribute towards compensating the person or persons injured, all of which shall be returned to the board of president and trustees under their hand and seals; and the person who shall be benifitted and so assessed shall pay the same in such manner as shall be provided, and the residue, if any, shall be paid out of the town treasury.

Sec. 8. All ordinances shall, within one month after they are passed, be published in some newspaper published in or near the place, or be posted up in four of the most public places in said town for two weeks at least before taking effect.

Sec. 9. That, when any real estate in said town of Grafton shall have been sold by the authority of the corporation thhereof, the same shall be subject to redemption in the same manner as is provided by the authority of this State.

Sec. 10. That the president and trustees, and every officer of said corporation shall, before entering upon the duties of their offices, take an oath or affirmation before some judge or justice of the peace, to support the constitution of this State and of the United States, and faithfully to demean themselves in office.

Sec. 11. That a town constable or constables shall be appointed as other officers of the corporation, who shall possess the same powers and perform the same duties within said town as the constables in the different townships possess in their respective townships, and shall be entitled to the same compensation.

Sec. 12. That the incorporation shall be divided into two wards, and more, if the president and trustees shall hereafter deem it necessary. All of fractional section No. sixteen of said town shall compose the first ward, and all the balance of said town shall compose the second ward, and if more hereafter shall be made, the president and trustees shall make the same matter of record, and publish the bounds thereof; and each ward shall elect at least two trustees, and five trustees shall constitute a board to do and transact business.

Sec. 13. An election shall be held on the first Monday in May next, and Paris Mason, John Armstrong, and John Rees, of said town, are hereby appointed judges of the first election. And it shall be the duty of said judges to give at least ten days notice of the time and place of holding said election by posting up six advertisements in the most public places in said town, and shall deliver certificates of election to those duly elected. Said election shall be conducted in all respects as other elections are conducted in this State.

Sec. 14. All the revenue collected in the first ward shall be expended in improving the avenues, lanes, streets, or alleys; or in erecting public buildings in said ward; and all the revenue collected in the second ward shall be expended in the like manner in the second ward, in such manner agreeable to this act the president and trustees may direct.

Sec. 15. The jurisdiction of said president and trustees, and all other officers within said incorporate limits, shall extend to the centre of the river in front of said town of Grafton, in addition to the prescribed limits of said corporation.

Sec. 16. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Sec. 17. The legislature reserves the right to repeal, alter, or amend, this act whenever the public good may require the same.

Approved 28th February, 1837.