Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the inhabitants of the town of Hennepin, in the county of Putnam, be, and they are hereby, declared a body corporate and politic, by the name and style of “The president and trustees of the town of Hennepin;” 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 courts of law and equity, and in all matters and actions whatsoever; may grant, purchase, receive, and hold property, real and personal, within said town, and not elsewhere, burial grounds excepted, and may sell, lease, and dispose of the same for the benefit of said town; and may do all other acts, as natural persons, which shall be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this act; may have a common seal, and may break and alter the same at pleasure.

Sec. 2. The limits of said corporation shall include the south half of fractional section nine, and the east half of the southwest quarter of section ten, of township thirty-two, north of the base line, of range two, west of the third principal meridian.

Sec. 3. The corporate powers of said town shall be vested in seven trustees, to be chosen and elected as hereinafter directed, who shall form a board for the transaction of business.

Sec. 4. The members composing the board of trustees shall be elected by the persons residing within the said town and incorporated limits who are qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly, and who are also possessed of a freehold estate within said town, or have resided within the limits of said town for at least six months preceding the election. The trustees shall be at least twenty-one years of age, freeholders, and inhabitants within said corporation, and citizens of the United States.

Sec. 5. There shall be an election held in said town, on the first Monday in May, A.D. 1839, and on the first Monday in May in each year ever thereafter, for the election of seven trustees, one treasurer, one constable, who shall also be collector, and two assessors for said town.

Sec. 6. The trustees shall elect one of their own number as president of the board. They shall also appoint their clerk. They shall be judges of the qualifications and returns of elections for all the officers of the corporation. A majority shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a less number many adjourn; may compel the attendance of absent members in such a manner and under such penalties as the board may provide. They may determine the rules of their own proceedings, punish their members for disorderly conduct, and, by the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected, may expel a member.

Sec. 7. Every officer of said corporation shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take an oath or affirmation , before some justice of the peace, to support the constitution of the United States and of this State, and faithfully to discharge the duties of his office.

Sec. 8. The board of trustees shall have power, by an ordinance, to levy and collect taxes upon all property real and personal, (excepting public property,) within the town and limits of the corporation, not exceeding one-half of one per centum per annum, upon the assessed value thereof; to make regulations to secure the general health of the inhabitants; to prevent and remove nuisances; to improve the public grounds of said town; to erect lamps in the streets, and light the same; to license, tax, and regulate merchants, taverns, auctioneers, and pedlers, theatrical and all other shows and amusements; to restrain and prohibit gaming-houses, bawdy-houses, and all other disorderly houses; to establish and regulate markets; to grade and keep in repair streets, avenues, lanes, alleys, drains and sewers, and to keep the same clean; to provide for preventing and extinguishing fires; to dig wells and erect pumps for the convenience of the inhabitants; to regulate the police of the town; to regulate the election of town officers, and fix their compensation; to erect and keep in repair school-houses, and regulate and maintain common schools, within the corporation; and, from time to time, to pass such ordinances and by-laws, and appoint such officers, as may be necessary to carry into effect the objects of this act and the powers hereby granted; and to impose and appropriate fines and forfeitures for the breach of any ordinance or by-law, and provide for the collection thereof; and that in all cases arising under this act, or growing out of the by-laws and ordinances made in pursuance of this act of incorporation, any justice of the peace within said 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 appealing from judgments of justices of the peace.2

Sec. 9. The assessors shall assess the property, both real and personal, within said corporation limits, between the first Monday in May and the first Monday in July in each and every year; and make their returns to the board of trustees on the first Monday in the month of July, or at such other time as the board of trustees shall, by ordinance, direct; at which time the board shall proceed to levy a tax for said corporation for the current year, and cause a list thereof to be delivered to the collectors for collection.

Sec. 10. The constable, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall execute his bond to said corporation, with one or more securities, to be approved by the board of trustees, conditioned for the faithful execution of the duties of his

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office. He shall possess the same powers and perform the same duties as are required of constables by the general laws of this State in relation to all matters arising under this act, and shall be entitled to the same compensation for similar services; and by virtue of his office as collector, he shall collect all taxes assessed by the authority of said corporation, and pay the same over to the treasurer at such time as shall be appointed by the board.

Sec. 11. The treasurer, before entering upon the duties of this office shall execute his bond to the corporation, with one or more securities, to be approved by the board of trustees, conditioned for the faithful execution of the duties of his office. He shall receive and preserve all moneys belonging to said corporation, and disburse the same upon the order of the board; and shall exhibit a statement of the financial condition of the funds of the corporation semi-annually, and at such time as shall be directed by the board.

Sec. 12. All corporation officers shall be elected or appointed to hold their offices for one year, and until their successors are elected, or appointed, and qualified.

Sec. 13. That upon the application of the owners of two-thirds of the lots on any street or parts of a street, it shall be lawful for the board of trustees to levy 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. 14. Upon the failure of the owner of any real estate, within the corporate limits of said town, to pay the taxes which shall be assessed upon said property by virtue of this act, it shall and may be lawful for the town collector to sell the same at public auction, or so much thereof as shall be necessary to pay said taxes and costs, after first having advertised the same, for four weeks in succession, in some newspaper printed in said town; or, if no newspaper should be printed in said town, then in the nearest, and posted up in said town at least four months previous to the time of said sale; and if the same shall not be redeemed at the time limited by the provisions of this act, it shall be the duty of the president of the board of trustees to give to the purchaser or purchasers thereof a deed for the same, which shall be countersigned by the clerk.

Sec. 15. When any real estate in said town of Hennepin shall be sold by the authority of the corporation thereof, the same shall be subject to redemption in the same manner as is or shall be provided by the revenue laws of this State.

Sec. 16. All ordinances shall, within one month after they are passed, be published in some newspaper printed in the town, or posted up in at least six of the most public places in said town, for two weeks at least before taking effect.

Sec. 17. Nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to debar the schools established by virtue of this act

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from receiving their just proportion of the general of township school fund.

Sec. 18. That the trustees of said corporation shall have power to levy a labor tax in said corporation, in conformity with the general road law of this State which is now or may hereafter be in force; and that all land-holders residing within the limits of said corporation shall have the privilege, and they are hereby required, to discharge the road tax on their lands within the corporation, in the same manner and under the same restrictions as are now or may hereafter be provided by the general road law of the State.

Sec. 19. That it shall be the duty of the clerk of the county commissioners’ court to furnish the president of the board of trustees with a transcript of all the lands listed with the treasurer of the county for taxation by residents of said corporation, with the valuation and tax thereon assessed by the county assessor, within ten days after the same shall be filed in this office by said assessor.

Sec. 20. At the first election, the electors shall choose judges and clerks from among themselves, who shall be governed in all respects by the general election laws of the State. They shall make their returns to the clerk of the county commissioners’ court of Putnam county, who shall open and count the votes in the same manner as all other election returns, and give certificates of election to those having the highest number of votes. It shall also be the duty of said clerk to preserve the poll-books, and enter, of record in his office, the returns of said election. That after the first election, the board of trustees shall appoint as many judges and clerks of election as may be necessary, who shall preside at all elections held for corporate purposes, who shall make their returns to the board of trustees; any four of which shall have power to open and count the said votes, and give certificates of election.

Approved, March 2, 1839.