NEW GLOUCESTER – SAD 15 directors on Wednesday agreed to notify the Gray Historical Society to vacate Pennell Institute, an educational trust owned by the district, by June 30.

Since the late 1990s, the school district has been trying to dispose of the building established through the Pennell Trust, which includes Pennell Institute, established in the 1870s by Henry Pennell.

School board Chairman Alan Rich said at least $1 million in repairs are needed to make the building usable. The district no longer wants the building.

The Historical Society has made use of the second floor for its organization since the mid 1970s.

A lengthy legal dispute over ownership of the building and the Pennell assets ensued since 1999, when the Gray Town Council took legal action over ownership of the trust claiming it belonged to the town.

The educational trust earmarked Gray students to benefit from the trust’s assets.

When SAD 15 was formed for Gray and New Gloucester in the early 1960s, a legal dispute between Gray and the new school district cleared the way for SAD 15 to take over the trust for educational purposes. SAD 15 remains the rightful owner of the educational trust that is managed by Maine’s Attorney General’s Office.

That office ruled that the buildings can be sold for fair market value and the proceeds returned to the educational trust.

The Pennell Institute was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.