Act of 1857 creating the Illinois State Normal University. Laws of Illinois 1857; approved February 18. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That C. B. Denio, of Jo Daviess county, Simeon Wright, of Lee county, Daniel Wilkins, of McLean county, C. E. Hovey, of Peoria county, George P. Rex, of Pike county, Samuel W. Moulton, of Shelby county, John Gillespie, of Jasper county, George Bunsen, of St. Clair county, Wesley Sloan, of Pope county, Ninian W. Edwards, of Sangamon county, John Eden, of Moultrie county, Flavel Mosley, of Cook county, William H. Wells, of Cook county, Albert R. Shannon, of White county, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, ex-officio, with their associates, who shall be elected as herein provided, and their successors, are hereby created a body corporate and politic, to be styled "The Board of Education of the State of Illinois," and by that name and style shall have perpetual succession, and have power to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, to acquire, hold and convey real and personal property; to have and use a common seal, and to alter the same at pleasure; to make and establish by-laws, and alter or repeal the same as they shall deem necessary for the government of the normal university hereby authorized to be established, not in conflict with the constitution and laws of this State, or of the United States; and to have and exercise all powers, and be subjected to all duties usual and incident to trustees of corporations. 2. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, by virtue of his office, shall be a member and secretary of said board, and shall report to the legislature at its regular sessions the condition and expenditures of said normal university, and communicate such further information as the said board of education or the legislature may direct. 3. No member of the board of education shall receive any compensation for attendance on the meetings of the board except his necessary traveling expenses; which shall be paid in the same manner as the instructors employed in the said normal university shall be paid. At all the stated and other meetings of the board called by the president or secretary, or any five members of the board, five members shall constitute a quorum, provided all shall have been duly notified. 4. The objects of the said normal university shall be to qualify teachers for the common schools of the state by imparting instruction in the art of teaching and all branches of study which pertain to a common school education, in the elements of the natural sciences, including agricultural chemistry, animal and vegetable physiology, in the fundamental laws of the United States and of the state of Illinois, in regard to the rights and duties of citizens, and such other studies as the board of education may from time to time prescribe. 5. The board of education shall hold its first meeting at the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, on the first Tuesday of May next, at which meeting they shall appoint an agent, fixing his compensation, who shall visit the cities, villages, and other places in the state, which may be deemed eligible for the purpose, to receive donations and proposals for the establishment and maintenance of the normal university. The board shall have power and it shall be their duty to fix the permanent location of said normal university at the place where the most favorable inducements are offered for that purpose: Provided, that such location shall not be difficult of access, or detrimental to the welfare and prosperity of the said normal university. 6. The Board of Education shall appoint a principal, lecturer, on scientific subjects, instructors and instructresses, together with such officers as shall be required in the said Normal University, fix their respective salaries and prescribe their several duties. They shall also have power to remove any of them for proper cause, after having given ten days' notice of any charge which may be duly presented and reasonable opportunity for defense. They shall also prescribe textbooks, apparatus and furniture to be used in the university, and provide the same; and shall make all regulations necessary for its management, and the Board shall have the power to recognize auxiliary institutions when deemed practical; Provided, that such auxiliary in stitutions shall receive any appropriation from the treasury or the seminary or university fund. 7. Each county within the state shall be entitled to gratuitous instruction for one pupil in said Normal University, and each respective district shall be entitled to gratuitous instruction for a number of pupils equal to the number of representatives in said district, to be chosen in the following manner: The school commissioner (county superintendent) in each county shall receive and register all names of applicants for admission in said Normal University, and shall present the same to the county court, or in counties acting under township organization, to the Board of Supervisors, which county court, or Board of Supervisors, as the case may be, shall, together with the county commissioner, examine all applicants so presented, in such manner as the Board of Education may direct, and the number of such as shall be found to possess the requisite qualifications, such pupils shall be so selected by lot; and in representative districts composed of more than one county, the school commissioner and the county judge or school commissioner and chairman of the Board of Supervisors in counties acting under township organization, as the case may be, of the several counties composing such representative districts, shall meet at the clerk's office of the county court of the oldest county, and from the applicants so presented to the county court or Board of Supervisors, of the sev eral counties represented, and found to possess the requisite qualifications, shall select by lot the number of pupils to which the said district is entitled. The Board of Education shall have the discretionary power, if any candidate does not sign and file with the Secretary of the Board a declaration that he or she will teach in the public schools within the State, in case that engagements can be secured by reasonable efforts, to require such candidate to provide for the payment of such fees for tuition as the Board may prescribe. 8. The interest of the university and seminary fund, or such thereof as may be found necessary, shall be, and is hereby appropriated for the maintenance of said Normal University, and shall be paid on the order of the Board of Education from the treasury of the State; but in no case shall any part of the interest of said fund be applied to the purchase of sites, or buildings for said university. 9. The Board shall have power to appropriate the $1,000 received from the Messrs. Merriam, of Springfield, Massachusetts, by the late superintendent to the purchase of apparatus for the use of the Normal University, when established, and hereafter all gifts, grants and demises which may be made to the said Normal University shall be applied in accordance with the wishes of the donor of the same. 10. The Board of corporators herein named, and their successors, shall each of them hold their office for the term of six years: Provided, that at the first meeting of said Board, the said corporators shall determine by lot, so that one-third shall hold their office for two years, one-third for four years, and one-third for six years. The Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall fill all vacancies which shall at any time occur in said Board, by appointment of suitable persons to fill the same. 11. At the first meeting of the Board, and at each biennial meeting hereafter, it shall be the duty of said board to elect one of their number president, who shall serve until next biennial meeting of the board, and until his successor is elected. 12. At each biennial meeting it shall be the duty of the Board to appoint a treasurer who shall not be a member of the board, and who shall give bond, with such security as the Board may direct, conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties. 13. This act shall take effect on and after its passage and be published and distributed as an Appendix to the school law. Act of 1861 establishing Illinois Agricultural College Private Laws 1867, February 12, pp. 1-3. In force The act creating the institution reads as Feb. 21 1861 given below: An Act to provide for the disposition of Seminary lands, and to incorporate the Illinois Agricultural College. Ill. Agric. College incorporated Capital Officers to be elected SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That J. W. Singleton, Thomas Quick, William A. Hacker, Walter Buchanan, B. C. Renois, Harmon Alexander, Curtis Blakeman, James G. Stipp and Zadoc Casey, and all such other persons as may become associated with them, are hereby constituted a body corporate, by the name and style of the Illinois Agricultural College, for the purpose of instruction and science in practical and scientific agriculture, and in the mechanic arts. 2. The capital stock of said company shall be fifty thousand dollars, with liberty to increase it to the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars, which shall be considered personal property, and assignable in such manner as said corporation may, by its by-laws, from time to time provide. The capital stock of said corporation shall be exclusively devoted to the purposes named in the first section of this act; and to that end said corporation may acquire, by purchase or otherwiɛe, hold and convey real estate to the amount of its capital. 3. Within ninety days from the passage of this act, the said corporators shall open a subscription book for said stock, at such times and places as they shall appoint, giving at least fourteen days' previous notice of the same in two or more newspapers in this State. Ten per cent of the whole amount of the stock taken shall be paid at the time of subscription, and the balance shall be paid at such time, place and manner as shall be required by the directors of said. company. 4. Whenever twenty-five thousand dollars shall have been subscribed, it shall be the duty of |