The articles of incorporation called for annual stockholder meetings on the second Tuesday of each January at 2 PM so, on January 14, 1919 at 3 PM (one hour late!), 55 out of 91 shareholders of the new Vegetable Growers Supply Co. meet at Arcanum Hall 7013 Ravenswood Ave., in Rogers Park, Chicago. This represented a quorum of shares represented (326 out of 500). Being selected as chairman for this annual meeting, J. P. Smith called the meeting to order with J. B. Molitor, who was selected, as secretary.

J. B. Molitor relayed to the shareholders the total for expenses to date related to incorporation and that the directors have rented Mr. John Gretz’ shop at Clark St. and Birchwood Ave. and prepaid him for six months rent. The rent prepayment was $170 ($2,720) and the incorporation and organizing costs were $437.22 ($6,995.52), bring the total for these two expenses to $607.22 ($9,715.52). Original capitalization money raised in November, 2018 was $25,000 ($400,000).

The main item of interest at this shareholder meeting involved the organization and selection of directors based districts where the greenhouse growers reside. The four districts established were:

1. Rogers Park
2. Niles Center (Skokie today) & Morton Grove
3. Gross Point (Western part of Evanston and Wilmette today)
4. Evanston

The directors called for a 10 minute recess where the stockholders could meet together with those in their district and vote for director nominations. The following nominations were put forth:

Rogers Park: J. P. Smith, J. B. Molitor, Anthony Kremer, Frank Herff, Nick Schmidt, Robert F. Dilger, Frank Klein, Anton Stranski, Peter Nepper, Peter Andre.

Gross Point: Matt Hoffmann, Nic Schwind, Joseph Rengel, William Rengel

Niles Center and Morton Grove: Ferdinand Kutz, Nick Platz, H. Ahrens, Henry Modaff

Evanston: Henry Didier, Charles Schwind, Julius Knarkard, Michael Leider

Chairman J. P. Smith appointed J.P Schneider, Nick Kaiser, and Peter Harles as tellers and judges of the election. Voting then commenced and upon ending, the tellers reported the results, numbers based on shares held by stockholders voting:

• Rogers Park District (1,312 shares voted)
  • J. B. Molitor, 224
  • J. P. Smith, 178
  • Frank Herff, 173
  • Anthony Kremer, 167
  • Robert F. Dilger, 166
  • Frank Klein, 153
  • Nick Schmidt, 140
  • Peter Endre, 46
  • Peter Nepper, 39
  • Anton Stranski, 26
• Gross Point District (576 shares voted)
  • Joseph Rengel, 239
  • Matthew Hoffman, 212
  • William Rengel, 86
  • Nick Schwind, 39
• Niles Center and Gross Point District (614 shares voted)
  • Ferdinand Kutz, 242
  • Nick Platz, 206
  • Henry Modaff, 130
  • Henry Ahrens, 36
• Evanston District (606 shares voted)
  • Michael Leider, 261
  • Henry Didier, 155
  • Julius Knackard, 131
  • Charles Schwind, 59

Based on these vote totals, the names in bold above were elected as the directors of the Vegetable Growers Supply Co. and the Rogers Park District maintained a large contingent of directors (5 out of the 11), even with establish districts to ensure board representation from districts with fewer vegetable growers in it.

The formation of districts to appoint directors is not called out in the articles of incorporation, and given the absence of discussions in the minutes, this arrangement was likely discussed with many stockholders outside each meeting. Perhaps this is the reason this meeting started late?