Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That all persons who shall become stockholders pursuant to this act are hereby constitutad a body corporate and politic, by the name of “The Union Agricultural Society;” and from and after the passage of this act, by that name, they and their successors shall and may hereafter have succession, and shall, in law, be capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, answer and being answered, in all courts and places whatsoever; which incorporation is for the sole purposes of instruction in science and improvement, in scientific and practical agriculture, and the mechanical arts, in the counties of La Salle, Will, Cook, McHenry, and Kane.

Sec. 2. The capital stock of said company shall be ten thousand dollars, with the privilege of increasing it to thirty thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of ten dollars each, which shall be considered as personal property, and be assignable in such manner as the said corporation may in its by-laws from time to time provide; which said capital stock shall be exclusively devoted to the purposes and objects of said corporation as declared in the first section of this act, and to no other purposes or objects whatever; and to the same end, the said corporation shall have power to take, hold, and convey real estate, and other property, to the amount of its capital.

Sec. 3. Said corporation shall have power, by its trustees, or a majority of them present at any regularly called meeting, to make by-laws for its own government; for the promotion of the aforesaid objects or any one of them; for the establishment of agricultural fair-shows; for the awarding of premiums, and for the raising of funds therefor; for fixing the amount of capital stock from time to time to be called in, and the time or times for calling in the same; and generally for any other purpose or purposes pertaining to the objects of the corporation, and not inconsistent with this act or with the laws or constitution of this State, or with the constitution of the United States.

Sec. 4. Levi Hills and B. H. Moores, of La Salle county, Cornelius C. Van Horn and Holder Sisson, of Will county, Lewis Ellsworth and John S. Wright, of Cook, William Jackson and Seth Washburn, of McHenry, General McClure and John R. Livingston, of Kane county, shall be commissioners to receive subscriptions for and distribute said capital stock for said corporation.

Sec. 5. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall, within ninety days after the passage of this act, open a subscription book for said stock, at such times and places as they shall appoint; and they shall give at least fourteen days’ previous notice thereof in at least two of the public newspapers printed in said counties. Said commissioners shall have power to appoint committees for such towns or settlements in said counties as they, or a majority of them, may deem expedient, for taking up subscriptions to said stock.

Sec. 6. Five per cent. on each share subscribed for shall be paid to said commissioners, or to said committees by them to be appointed as aforesaid, at the time of making such subscription; and the remainder of said capital stock so subscribed as aforesaid shall be paid in, in such sum or sums, and at such time or times, as may be provided for and directed by the by-laws of said corporation; but not more than fifty per cent. of the stock so subscribed shall be called for in any one year, without the unanimous consent of all the holders of said stock.

Sec. 7. If the whole capital stock of said incorporation be not taken up at the first subscription thereto, said commissioners, or a majority of them, or the committees by them

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to be appointed as aforesaid, may receive subscriptions thereto, from time to time, until the whole capital stock shall be taken up; and said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall, within one year after the passage of this act, proceed to distribute the capital stock of the corporation among the subscribers thereto; and in case there should be subscriptions to more than the amount of said stock, within said year, it shall be the duty of said commissioners to apportion the same among the subscribers thereto, in such manner as they may deem most advantageous to the interests of said corporation, and as best calculated to promote its objects.

Sec. 8. In case said stock be not all taken up in within one year from the passage of this act, the duties of said commissioners shall cease, and the trustees of said corporation, or a quorum thereof, may thereafter receive subscriptions to said stock, from time to time, until the whole shall be subscribed.

Sec. 9. The stock, property, and concerns of said corporation shall be managed by fifty trustees, ten being residents of each of the aforesaid counties, who shall be stockholders of said corporation, and any five of whom, to be designated by a majority of the trustees, shall form a quorum for the transaction of all ordinary business of said corporation; which election shall be annually.

Sec. 10. Abraham Holderman, Levi Hills, Joshua Collins, Salmon Rutherford, S. S. Bullock, David Shaver, B. H. Moores, S. Delano, Benjamin B. Reynolds, and Henry Green, of La Salle county; Holder Sisson, Calvin Rowley, J. A. Gooding, William Smith, Wm. B. Peck, Reuben Beach, John Blackstone, Charles Reed, Cornelius C. Van Horn, and John Dean Caton, of Will county; William B. Ogden, Joseph Napier, Socrates Rand, E. Peck, Lewis Ellsworth, Seth Johnson, William P. Caton, Robert A. Kinzie, Russel Whipple, and John S. Wright, of Cook county; Isaac Hicox, Matthias Mason, Arthur Patterson, Mr. Bartlett, J. G. Ragan, William Jackson, Seth Washburn, Joseph Wickham, Tiba S. Beardsley, and Willard Jones, of McHenry county; General McClure, James T. Gifford, Colton Knox, Rice Fay, Ira Minard, Isaac Wilson, John R. Livingston, R. C. Horr, Mr. Risk, and Joel McKee, of Kane county, shall be the first trustees of said corporation, and shall hold their offices until the last Wednesday in December, A.D. 1839, and until others shall be elected in their places.

Sec. 11. The trustees for said corporation, for every subsequent year shall be elected on the last Wednesday in December in each and every year, at such hour of the day, and at such place, as the trustees for the time being shall appoint; and of which they shall give at least fourteen days’ previous notice, by advertisement to be inserted in at least two of the public newspapers published in said counties.

Sec. 12. At every election of trustees, each stockholder shall be entitled to one vote on each share of stock owned by him, and which he shall have held for at least fourteen days next preceding such election; and such vote or votes may be given by such stockholder in person, or by authorizing any other stockholder, in writing, to give the vote or votes for him to which he may be entitled.

Sec. 13. All elections for trustees shall be held under the inspection of three stockholders, not being trustees, to be appointed, previous to every election, by the board of trustees for the time being; and such election shall be by ballot, and by plurality of votes of the stockholders or their proxies there present; and those fifty persons who shall receive the greatest number of votes, ten of them being residents of each of the aforesaid counties, shall be the trustees of said corporation; and if, at any such election for trustees, two or more persons from a county shall have an equal number of votes, then the trustees who shall have been duly elected shall proceed, by ballot, and by plurality of votes to determine which of said persons, so having an equal number of votes, shall be the trustee or trustees, so as to complete the whole number of fifty.

Sec. 14. If any trustee of said corporation shall cease to be a stockholder thereof, or shall remove out of the county from which he was elected, his office shall thereby become vacant; and whenever any vacancy shall happen among the trustees, such vacancy shall be filled for the remainder of the year in which it shall so happen, by such person, possessing the qualifications above required for trustee of this corporation, as the remaining trustees for the time being, or a majority of them present, shall appoint: Provided such trustee thus appointed shall be a resident of the county in the representation of which such vacancy shall have occurred.

Sec. 15. The trustees of said corporation, as soon as may be after their appointment or election under this act, shall in like manner proceed to elect of their number a president, five vice presidents, (one being a resident of each of the aforesaid counties,) a treasurer, a recording secretary, and a corresponding secretary; which election shall be by ballot and by plurality of votes of the trustees or their proxies then present, who shall respectively hold their offices for one year, and until others shall be elected in their places; the notice of which election shall this year be given by the commissioners appointed in the fourth section of this act, and each and every year hereafter as may be provided in the by-laws of said corporation; and the trustees shall also appoint such professors, agents, and other persons as may be necessary to conduct the proper business, and accomplish the declared objects of said corporation; and may adopt a common seal for the same, and establish by-laws for the government thereof, pursuant to the provisions of the third section of this act.

Sec. 16. The president, or a majority of the vice presidents, may call a meeting of the stockholders or trustees, when it may be necessary to the welfare of this society, by giving public notice thereof, at least fourteen days previous to the time appointed for such meeting, in at least two of the public newspapers published in said counties; and a majority of the stockholders or trustees, or their proxies then present at any such meeting of the stockholders or trustees, as the meeting may be of stockholders or trustees, shall govern in all matters provided for in this act.

Sec. 17. Whenever a sufficient amount of stock of said corporation shall have been subscribed and paid in as aforesaid, the trustees shall, as soon as may be thereafter, proceed to the purchase of a pattern or experimental farm, of such size as they may deem most advantageous for the institution, but containing not less than one hundred and sixty acres of land, and not more than six hundred and forty, to be located in one of said counties, as the trustees shall direct. Said trustees may expend a portion of the stock or funds of said corporation in the improvement of said farm; in stocking the same; in the erection thereon of suitable buildings; in the establishment, at their discretion, of an agricultural school; in the employment of teachers and professors, and in the purchase of apparatus for the same; and said trustees shall have power to make by-laws for the government of said school, and generally to make all such other arrangements as may be proper for the benefit of said corporation, and the accomplishment of its objects.

Sec. 18. That any share or shares of stock, which may be held or owned by any member of this corporation at the time of his death, shall not vest in the heirs or legal representatives of any such member, but the same shall be sold, at public auction, to the highest bidder, after four weeks’ public notice thereof, in such manner as the trustees of said corporation may direct; and the proceeds of such shares, after the same shall have been sold, shall be paid over to the heirs or legal representatives of such deceased stockholder.2

Approved, February 19, 1839.