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Sec[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the
people of the State of Illinois represented in the General assembly. The the following is declared to be the boundaries of the Town of Macomb, in Mc Donough County, that is to say one square mile, laid out by lines running due north and south, east
and West and the centre of the publick square in said town of Macomb, to be the centre of said square mile; and the inhabitants of said town and and all within said boundaries, shall be and are hereby constituted a body politic
and corporate by the name and style of the President and Trustees of the Town of Macomb, 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
all matters and actions whatsoever, grant, purchase receive and hold property both
real and personal, within the said Town of Macomb and no other, burial grounds excepted, and may lease[,] sell[,] and convey, and dispose of the same for the benefit of said 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 borrow and expend money for the improvement of said
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town, and may do all other acts as natural persons may have a common seal and may break
or alter the same at pleasure
Sec 2. The corporate powers and duties of said town shall be vested in five Trustees to be chosen and appointed as herein after provided,
who 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 the said town and incorporated limits, to serve for one Year and until their successors shall be elected and qualified;
they shall be at least twenty one years of age, and inhabitants of said incorporated limits three months next preceding said election.
Sec. 4. The board of Trustees shall appoint their President and all other officers of
their board, and shall be Judges of the qualifications of voters elections and returns
of their own members; a majority shall constitute a board to do business but a smaller
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
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two thirds of the whole number elect, or expel a member, and make such other rules
and regulations for their own government not inconsistant with the constitution and laws of this State, and to fill vacancies in said board 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 and personal 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 establish night watches, to
erect lamps in the streets, and lighting the same, to license theatrical and all other
shows, and amusements, to restrain and prohibit gaming ho[u]ses; bawdy houses and other disorderly ho[u]ses, to establish and repair Bridges, to build a market house[,] to establish and regulate markets, to open and keep in repair streets, avenues, Lanes,
alleys, drains, sewers, and culverts, and to keep the same clean, to provide for the
prevention and extinguishment of fires, to dig wells and erect pumps in the square
or streets or
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both for the conveniance of the inhabitants, to regulate the police of said town, to regulate the compensation of the town officers, and from time to time to pass
such ordinances as may be necessary to carry into effect the object of this act and
the powers hereby granted, and to impose fines and forfeitures for the breach of a[n]y ordinance or by law and provide for the collection of the same, and that in all cases arising under 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 is now or hereafter may be allowed
by law from
^for^ appealing from Judgments of Justices of the Peace.
Sec. 6. The board of Trustees of said town shall have power to assess fines and collect the same, for all assaults, assaults
and batterries, affrays, riots[,] routs, and unlawful assemblies for all gaming for money or other valuable things
at dice, cards[,] or any other games, known as games on which money is lost and won; for horse racing
and cockfighting for all
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breaches or disturbances of the pace and for all other disorderly or immorral conduct within the corporate limits of said town; and all fines and forfeitures imposed and taxed levied, and monies arising from licenses granted by this act or any by law or ordinance
made in pursuance of this act, shall be paid into the town treasury of said town, and shall compose a part of the funds thereof.
Sec 7. That upon the application of the owners of two thirds of the front of the lots
on any street it shall be lawful for the board of trustees to levy and collect a special
Tax on the property of owners of said lots, on said street or part of a street according
to their respective fronts, for the purpose of grading and paving the side walks of
said street or part of a street.
Sec 8. The board of Trustees shall have power to regulate, grade, pave[,] and improve, the Streets, avenues, Lanes, and alleys, within the limits of said
town and incorporation, and to extend[,] open, and widen the same, making the person or persons Injured thereby adequate compensation,
to assertain which, the board shall cause twelve good and
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lawful men freeholders and Inhabitants of said town not directly interested, who being first duly sworn for that purpose, shall enquire
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,
extention or widening of any street, avenue, Lane, or alley, and they shall moreover estimate
the amount which other persons will be benefited thereby, and shall contribute towards compensating the person or persons injured
thereby; all of which shall be returned to the board of trustees under their hands
and seals, and the persons who shall be benefited and so assessed shall pay the same, as in such manner as shall be provided, and the residue if any shall be paid out of
the town treasury.
Sec 9. All ordinances shall within one month after they are passed; be published in
some paper news paper printed in or near said town, or be posted up in three of the most public places in said town for two weeks at least before taking effect.
Sec 10. That when any real estate in said town of McComb Macomb shall have been sold by the authority of the corporation thereof, the sum shall be
subject to redemption in the same manner as is provided by the authority of this state.
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Sec 11. The members of the board of Trustees, and every officer of said corporation shall before entering upon the duties of his office, take an oath or affirmation
before some Judge or Justice of the peace, to support the constitution of the United
States and of this State, and faithfully to demean themselves in office.
Sec. 12. The board of trustees shall have power to appoint one treasurer and clerk one
assessor of taxable property in said town and corporation one collector of taxes levied on said property, one supervisor of streets, and one
town constable who shall possess the same powers and perform the same duties within
said town as other constables, and shall be entitled to the same compensation.
Sec. 13. No persons residing within the corporate limits of said town shall be required to do any road labour on any road out of the corporate limits ^aforesaid^, but the trustees of said town may require the same quantity of labor to be done by the inhabitants of said town on the roads, streets, alleys, lanes[,] and avenues of said town, as they would be required to perform on the roads of the county were said town not Incorporated.
Sec 14 A conviction of any offence under this act, or under any by law or ordinance made in pursuance of this act, shall be a
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bar to any similar prosecution by the people for the same offence.
Sec. 15. No person shall be allowed to vote for Trustees of said town unless he be qualified to vote for Representatives to the general assembly, provided no person shall be allowed to vote for Trustees aforesaid unless he shall
be bona fide a resident within the corporate limits of said town, Provided that in no case arising under this act shall a greater penalty be imposed
or a higher fine assessed than is provided by the laws of this state for the commission of similar offences.
Sec. 16. That it shall be the duty of any Justice of the peace residing in said town, and he is hereby authorized and empowered, on complaint being made to him on oath,
or his view of the violation of any law or ordinance of said corporation, to issue his warrant directed to the town Constable or to any authorized officer
of the County to apprehend the offender or offenders, and bring him or them forthwith before him,
and after hearing the evidence if it shall appear that the said accused has been guilty
of any
such a violation of any such law or ordinance of the Corporation, to impose such fine or imprisonment as shall be pointed out in such law or ordinance.
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Sec. 17 The first election of Trustees under this act shall be held on the first Monday
of in April 1840 and an election annually
and
an
al
on the first Monday in April annually thereafter, but should an election not be held
at the regular time of holding the same the clerk of the old board of Trustees, or
any two cit^I^zens of said town may at any time call an election, by giving at least ten days notice, of the object,
time[,] and place of election, nothing in this act shall be so construed as to release said
Corporation from the duty and liabilities of the present incorporation of said town.
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[ docketing
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No 103
[ docketing
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[01]/[21]/[1840]
[01]/[21]/[1840]
Engrossed.
[ docketing
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28
[ docketing
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Passed
1On January 8, 1840, William Edmonston in the House of Representatives presented the petition of citizens of Macomb, requesting an act incorporating the town. The House referred the petition to a
select committee. In response to this petition, Edmonston of the aforesaid select
committee introduced HB 148 in the House on January 17. The House passed the bill
on January 27. The House reported the bill’s passage to the Senate, but the latter took no action.
Journal of the House of Representatives, of the Eleventh General Assembly of the State
of Illinois, at Their Called Session, Begun and Held at Springfield, December 9, 1839 (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1839), 136, 193, 222, 260; Journal of the Senate of the Eleventh General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at
Their Called Session, Begun and Held at Springfield, December 9, 1839 (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1839), 189.
Handwritten Document, 10 page(s), Folder 141, HB 148, GA Session 11-S, Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL) ,