Abandonment of portion of route by elevated railroad

§ 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.