§ 237. Abandonment of portion of route by elevated railroad. Any
company operating an elevated railroad or railroads in any city of this
state for the transportation of passengers, mails or freight, and which,
prior to the twenty-ninth day of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-one,
shall have built and operated six-tenths of its route as set forth and
embodied in its articles of incorporation, may declare relinquished and
abandoned any portion of its said route, which it may deem no longer
necessary for the successful operation of its road and the convenience
of the public. Such declaration of abandonment to be valid shall be
adopted by the board of directors, under the seal of such company, and
shall be submitted to the stockholders thereof at a meeting called for
the purpose of taking the same into consideration. Due notice of the
time and place of holding said meeting and stating the object thereof
shall be given by the company to its stockholders by written or printed
notices addressed to each of the persons in whose name the capital stock
of the company stands on the books thereof, at the address of such
persons as stated on the books, or as known to the secretary of the
company, and delivered or mailed to such persons, or the legal
representatives of such persons, respectively, at least thirty days
before the time of holding the meeting of such company, and also by a
general notice published daily for at least four weeks in some newspaper
last designated for the publication of the session laws or of judicial
proceedings and legal notices in the county where the route of such
company is located; and at the said meeting of stockholders the
declaration of the said directors shall be considered and a vote by
ballot taken for the adoption or rejection of the same, each share
entitling the holder thereof to one vote, and said ballots shall be cast
in person or by proxy, and if two-thirds of all the votes of the
stockholders cast in person or by proxy at said meeting shall be for the
adoption of said declaration of abandonment, then that fact shall be
certified thereon by the secretary of the company under the seal
thereof, and the declaration so adopted shall be submitted for approval
to the commissioner of transportation, and if approved by him, such
approval shall be indorsed thereon, and the said declaration so
certified and indorsed shall be filed and recorded in the office of the
secretary of state, and from the time of such filing such portion of
said route designated in such declaration of such company shall be
deemed to be abandoned. A copy of such declaration of abandonment, duly
certified by the secretary of state under his official seal, shall be
presumptive evidence in all courts and places of the facts which it
recites, and of the regularity of the proceedings resulting in such
abandonment.