Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Isaac Galland and his associates and successors be, and they are hereby, constituted a body politic and corporate, under the name of “The Commerce Hotel Company,” and, by that name, shall have power to contract and be contracted with, may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered, in all courts of competent jurisdiction, and may have a common seal, which they may change or alter at pleasure.

Sec. 2. The said company shall have power, and be capable, of holding and purchasing, in fee simple, any estate, real or personal, necessary for the purposes of this incorporation, and none other: Provided the quantity of real estate to be by them so purchased shall not exceed one hundred and sixty acres, including the southwest fractional quarter of section two in township six north, in range nine, west of the fourth principal meridian; upon which said quarter section the said company are required to erect their hotel and other necessary buildings therewith connected. They shall also

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have power to sell and convey any or all of said real estate, or to lease all or any portion thereof for any period not exceeding the limits of this charter.

Sec. 3. The capital stock of said company shall be ten thousand dollars, which may be increased, at the pleasure of said company, to any sum not exceeding twenty thousand dollars; which said capital stock shall be divided into shares of fifty dollars, each, and subscribed for and held in the manner hereinafter provided.

Sec. 4. The concerns of said company shall be managed and conducted by a board of directors to consist of three persons, who shall be stockholders in said company, and who shall be elected by ballot, annually, by the stockholders and their lawful proxies; and the three persons receiving the greatest number of votes shall receive the certificates of the inspectors of the election so held declaring them duly elected. The directors so chosen shall at all times constitute a board, and be competent to the transaction of business, and shall, from time to time, prescribe such rules and regulations, relative to the concerns of said company and the duties of the officers thereof and other persons employed by them, as they shall deem proper.

Sec. 5. The said board shall, at their first meeting after their election, (which meeting any two members of said board may call,) elect a president and secretary and treasurer, who shall continue in office one year. The treasurer shall give bond in such manner and in such amount as the said directors shall prescribe; and the said directors shall have power to appoint such other agents as they may deem necessary in carrying on the business of said corporation: Provided such rules and regulations shall not be repugnant to the constitution and laws of the United States and of this State.

Sec. 6. Isaac Galland and Franklin Wilcox shall be commissioners for the purpose of opening books for the subscription of the capital stock of said company, within one year after the passage of this act, in such places and at such times as in their opinion may be proper. Twenty days’ notice shall be given, of the times and places of receiving such subscriptions by said commissioners, in some newspaper or newspapers in or nearest such places, and of the number of days which said books will be open for subscription to the capital stock of said company.

Sec. 7. The commissioners shall receive no subscriptions to said stock unless at least five dollars on each share subscribed shall be paid at the time of subscription; and when the whole amount of the capital stock shall be subscribed, the said commissioners shall give a like notice of twenty days for a meeting of the stockholders, for the purpose of choosing three directors, designating the time and place of holding such election; at which election persons holding stock in said company shall be permitted to vote either in person or by lawful

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proxy. The said commissioners shall be inspectors of the first election for directors, and shall certify, under their hands, the names of those duly elected, and shall deliver over the subscription books, and the amount of the money received on subscription, to said directors so elected. The stock of said corporation shall be considered personal property, and assignable and transferable on the books of the corporation.

Sec. 8. The said company shall at all times keep proper books of account, in which shall be registered all the transactions of the corporation, and the same shall at all times be subject to the inspection of the stockholders; and it shall be the duty of the directors to make annual dividends, or at such other times as a majority of the directors shall direct, of so much of the profits of the said company as to them, or a majority of them, shall appear advisable; and the said directors shall, whenever required by a majority of the stockholders, exhibit, at a general meet, a full and perfect statement of the debts and credits, and all such other matters as may be deemed essential in relation to the business of said company.

Sec. 9. The stock not disposed of by the commissioners in the manner hereinbefore mentioned shall and may be issued, by the directors for the time being, according to the rules and regulations of said company.

Sec. 10. As soon as five thousand dollars of the capital stock of said company shall be subscribed by responsible persons, and ten per centum on said sum so to be subscribed actually paid to said company, or the commissioners above named, then, and not before, shall said company be authorized to organize themselves and proceed to business.

Sec. 11. The said company are also authorized to establish and keep a ferry, for the term of ten years, across the Mississippi river from said fractional quarter section, they being required to furnish for that purpose, within one year from the passage hereof, a good and sufficient boat or boats, and to comply in all respects with the law as though the said ferry had been established by the order of the county commissioners’ court of Hancock county; and the said company shall receive such rates, for crossing at said ferry, as shall from time to time be allowed them by said court.

Sec. 12. This act is hereby declared public, and shall take effect from and after its passage, and remain in force during the term of twenty years, except that portion of it which relates to the ferry privilege. Nothing in this act shall be so construed as to exempt the said corporation from the operation of the laws of this State regulating taverns.

Approved, February 28, 1839.