300-year-old Documents Show Town May Already Own The Land It’s Trying To Buy From The Local Church

YORK, Maine — Even as the town negotiates with First Parish Church officials over a lease of land for a Town Hall addition, a document has surfaced that indicates the town, and not the church, is believed to be the rightful owner of not only the Village Green property where the Town Hall is located, but of all the church’s so-called glebe land in downtown York. The Old York Historical Society document, a timeline that was shared with the town and procured by the Weekly, gleans information from court records, town meeting minutes, deeds, state statutes and other historical data.