The trustees of the Milford Public Library building at Mill and Water Street have arranged the sale of the building to Dale Roe’s Round Bottom Road Development corporation. The 170+ year old stone building was put in trust by Dr. Richard C. Belt for the housing and use of the Milford Public Library, with St. Thomas Episcopal church to take ownership of the building whenever the library ceased using it.
The trustees obtained a court order to terminate the trust by transferring the building to the church contemporaneously with its sale to the Roe business entity. The Library’s interest is protected via a 300-year lease, at one dollar per year, for its one-quarter occupancy of the building.
St. Thomas receives value for the building even though the library continues to operate, the library is protected and has permanent use of the area it currently uses, and the balance of the trust money is turned over to the library. The sale was necessitated by the fact that the trust has never had enough money to maintain the building.
The public library is incorporated as a public charity and receives no public money from any government entity. Mr. Roe will maintain the library building in keeping with efforts to preserve historic Milford.