Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That George Miller, Lyman Wight, John Snyder, and Peter Haws, and their associates, are hereby declared a body corporate under the name and style of the “Nauvoo House Association,” and they are hereby authorized to erect and furnish a public house of entertainment to be called the Nauvoo House.

Sec. 2. The above named George Miller, Lyman Wight, John Snyder, and Peter Haws, are hereby declared to be the trustees of said association, with full power and authority to hold in joint tenancy by themselves and their successors in office, a certain lot in the city of “Nauvoo,” in the county of Hancock and State of Illinois, known and designated on the plat of said city as the south half of lot numbered fifty-six, for the purpose of erecting thereon the house contemplated in the first section of this act.

Sec. 3. The said trustees are further authorized and empowered to obtain by stock subscription, by themselves or their duly authorized agents the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which shall be divided into shares of fifty dollars each.

Sec. 4. No individual shall be permitted to hold more than three hundred, nor less than one share of stock, and certificates of stock shall be delivered to subscribers so soon as their subscriptions are paid in and not before.

Sec. 5. As soon as the above contemplated house shall have been completed and furnished, the stockholders shall appoint such agents as the trustees may deem necessary in the management of the affairs of said association.

Sec. 6. The trustees shall have power to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded in any court of this State in the name and style of the trustees of the “Nauvoo House Association.”

Sec. 7. They shall also take the general care and supervision in procuring materials for said house, and constructing and erecting the same, and further, to superintend its general management, and to do and perform all matters and things which may be necessary to be done in order to secure the interest and promote the objects of this association.

Sec. 8. This association shall continue twenty years from the passage of this act, and the house herein provided for shall be kept for the accommodation of strangers, travellers, and all other persons who may resort thereto for rest and refreshment.

Sec. 9. It is moreover established as a perpetual rule of said house, to be observed by all persons who may keep or occupy the same that spirituous liquors of every description are prohibited, and that such liquors shall never be vended as a beverage or introduced into common use in said house.

Sec. 10. And whereas Joseph Smith has furnished the said association with the ground whereon to erect said house, it is further declared that the said Smith and his heirs shall hold by perpetual succession a suit of rooms in the said house, to be set apart and conveyed in due form of law, to him and his heirs by the said trustees as soon as the same are completed.

Sec. 11. The board of trustees shall appoint one of their number as president thereof.2

Approved, February 23, 1841.