Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1948 [PAGE 160]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

158

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[October

22

Meridian, (excepting therefrom those parts thereof included in and hereinabove described as a part of the Woodland Property and also excepting therefrom those parts thereof this day conveyed by the Grantor to the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois for a 4-H Club camp and other purposes). hereby conveying all the Grantor's farms, lying north of the Sangamon River, in said County of Piatt, together with the buildings and improvements thereon, all equipment, tools and machinery thereon, and the Grantor's share of the crops growing or stored thereon at the date hereof, (said real estate, buildings, improvements and personal property being hereinafter referred to as the " F a r m " ) , hereby releasing and waiving all rights under and by virtue of the Homestead Exemption Laws of the State of Illinois. T o have and to hold the said property upon the following charitable trust, terms and conditions, viz.: 1. T h e Woodland Property shall be used, maintained, preserved, operated, improved and developed by the Grantee for educational and research purposes, as a forest, wild and plant-life reserve, as an example of landscape gardening, and as a public park. 2. T h e Grantee may carry on such educational and research activities on the Woodland Property as the Grantee, in its sole discretion, may deem desirable and may change such activities from time to time as it chooses. 3. The Grantee may, at its sole expense, construct on the Woodland P r o p erty and maintain and use thereon such building or buildings for educational and research purposes as the Grantee may deem necessary or desirable, provided that such buildings are erected eastward of the entrance drive (which runs from the gardener's lodge to the main house) and northward of the main house, and that such buildings are similar in appearance to the main house and gardener's lodge. 4. T h e trees on the Woodland Property shall be well cared for and cultivated to the end that the forests thereon will be preserved. 5. The statues, garden ornaments, ornamental garden buildings, paths and roads on the Woodland Property shall, so far as practicable, be kept, maintained and preserved as they are on the date hereof. The Grantee shall be under no obligation to replace or restore any of the property mentioned in this paragraph which has been destroyed, removed, or damaged by fire, windstorm, flood, other casualty or by the act of any person, if, in the judgment of the Grantee, the damage, destruction or removal of such property is of such a nature or extent as to make restoration impossible or impracticable. T h e Grantee may, however, substitute other property for that damaged, destroyed or removed if, in the judgment of the Grantee, the substituted property will harmonize with the property then located on the Woodland Property. 6. T h e Grantee may construct on the Woodland Property and maintain thereon pavilions, shelters, toilets, other structures, roads and paths and may keep, preserve, maintain and use the greenhouses, gardeners' houses, garages, garden house, pavilions, sheds and similar buildings which are now on the Woodland Property and may rebuild and replace them at any time or times. All said buildings and structures shall be used for the maintenance, preservation, operation, improvement, development or use of the Woodland Property as a public park, but the appearance of all new buildings and structures shall be in harmony with the forests and landscaping and other buildings and structures on the Woodland Property.