Trustees of Sch. v. Village of Cahokia

• Decision Date: 19 October 1934
• Docket Number: No. 22482.,22482.
• Citation: 192 N.E. 565,357 Ill. 538
• Parties: TRUSTEES OF SCHOOLS et al. v. VILLAGE OF CAHOKIA.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

357 Ill. 538

192 N.E. 565

TRUSTEES OF SCHOOLS et al.

v.VILLAGE OF CAHOKIA.

No. 22482.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 19, 1934.

Suit by the Trustees of Schools and others against the Village of Cahokia, which filed a cross-bill, and the county of St. Clair. From decree rendered, complainant and Village of Cahokia appeal.

Decree modified and affirmed.

Appeal from Circuit Court, St. Clair County; Maurice V. joyce, judge.

F. E. Merrills, of Belleville, for appellants.

Thomas L. Fekete, Jr., of East St. Louis, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

The trustees of schools of townships 1 and 2 north, range 10 west, St. Clair county, filed a bill in the circuit court of that county to have confirmed in them, for the use of school district No. 50, the title in fee simple to lots 34, 51, and 130 of the village of Cahokia, and that any claims made thereto by the village of Cahokia and the county of St. Clair, parties to the suit, be held null and void, as clouds upon the complainants' title. The village of Cahokia and the county of St. Clair filed answers. The village also filed a cross-bill and the county sought to do so but was denied leave. A replication was filed to the answers. The cause was referred to a master in chancery who heard the evidence and made a report recommending that a decree be entered quieting and confirming the title to lots 34 and 51, in the village of Cahokia, subjectto the right of user of the lots by the trustees of schools of townships 1 and 2 for the use of school district No. 50, for school purposes, until such right of user should be revoked by the affirmative action of those inhabitants of the village of Cahokia who reside within the confines of school district No. 50, and quieting and confirming the title to lot 130, in the trustees of schools, free and clear from all adverse claims. At the close of the hearing before the master, the county of St. Clair disclaimed any interest in the subject-matter of the suit. The court entered a decree in conformity with the recommendations of the master save that the right of user of lots 34 and 51 for school purposes was directed to be continued so long only as a school should be conducted in the present building on lot 51, without any addition thereto other than necessary repairs and without the right to erect a new building on either of the lots, and that the village of Cahokia should be entitled to the possession of the lots when the trustees of schools should abandon or fail to conduct a school on the premises. Both the trustees of schools and the village prosecute appeals from that decree.

After reciting briefly the history of title to land in the original village of Cahokia from 1722 to 1874, it is alleged in the bill that in the year 1874 and for a long time prior thereto, lots 34, 51, and 130 in the village of Cahokia were school sites upon which schools were maintained; that these schools have been conducted continuously to the present time, and that the title to the lots in fee simple should be confirmed in the complainants. The village of Cahokia, in its answer, denies that the lots mentioned were, in 1874, school sites or that schools have been maintained on them continuously to the present time or that the complainants are entitled to the relief prayed. The village in its cross-bill alleges that lots 34 and 51 constitute a public square of the village and are shown as such on the plat recorded in plat book B, page 24, and that upon the incorporation of the village of Cahokia in 1926 the newly organized village became the owner of and entitled to the possession of the lots. The prayer is that the title to the lots be quieted in the village of Cahokia.

There is now no controversy over the title to lot 130. The questions presented for determination are whether lots 34 and 51 constitute a public square and, if so, whether the land is subject to the right of user by the trustees of schools for the use of school district No. 50, or whether the title to the lots should be quieted in the trustees of schools. The land included in the original village of Cahokia was confirmed in the inhabitants of the village as a common. Their title has been recognized at different times and in a variety of ways by the federal and state governments. 1 Story's Statutes of the United States, 1789-1827, p. 204; 2 American State Papers, ‘Public Lands,’ p. 194; Constitution of Illinois, 1818, art. 8, § 8; Laws of 1819, pp. 122, 123; Doe ex dem. v. Hill, Breese, 304; Hebert v. Lavalle, 27 Ill. 448;Lavelle v. Strobel, 89 Ill. 370;Bernier v. Russell, 89 Ill. 60;Haps v. Hewitt, 97 Ill. 498;Rutz v. Kehn, 143 Ill. 558, 29 N. E. 553. Four deeds were offered in evidence to show the existence of a tract known as a parade or public square, which was adjacent to the lands conveyed by the deeds. These instruments were executed in 1794, 1831, 1834, and 1837, respectively. Seven witnesses, residents or former residents of the village of Cahokia, ranging in age from sixty to seventy-two years, testified that within their memories, lots 34 and 51 had been called by the people of the village a public square. One of them testified that the tract was sometimes called the parade. By a special act of February 14, 1855, the supervisor and school trustees of the village of Cahokia were authorized to cause a survey and plat of the village to be made describing the lots, streets, and public grounds. When completed, the plat and survey were to be submitted to the inhabitants of the village for their approval. Private Laws of 1855, pp. 199, 200. Lots 34 and 51 appear on the plat so approved and bear the legend, ‘Public Square.’ These lots have never been the subject of conveyance of record. A school was built on lot 51 about 1868. It was under the control first of the trustees of schools of the original village of Cahokia, later, a receiver of school funds appointed by the circuit court of St. Clair county in 1909, and, finally, the trustees of schools, townships 1 and 2 north, range 10 west, in St. Clair county. By a special act of the General...