CHAPTER 170 - FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE SALE AND CONVEYANCE OF A CERTAIN LOT, PIECE OR PARCEL OF LAND BELONGING TO THE STATE OF DELAWARE, SITUATED IN THE TOWN OF ODESSA, IN NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE.
WHEREAS, there is situated in the Town of Odessa (formerly known as Cantwell's Bridge), in New Castle County, Delaware, a certain lot, piece or parcel of land, belonging to the State of Delaware, which by a recent survey made by Price & Price, Civil Engineers and Surveyors, on February 16, 1937, is particularly described by metes and bounds, as follows:
"ALL that certain lot, piece or parcel of land with the abandoned brick library and school building thereon erected, situated in the Town of Odessa (formerly known as Cantwell's Bridge), in New Castle County and State of Delaware, and more particularly bounded and described as follows, to-wit:
Beginning at the point of intersection of the North-easterly side of Main Street, at one hundred feet wide, with the Southeasterly side of Fourth Street, at sixty feet wide; thence from the said beginning point, along the said Northeasterly side of Main Street South, forty-six degrees and thirty minutes East, one hundred feet to a corner of lands late of Annie Townsend Vandegrift and Gertrude S. Butler, deceased; thence along the said line of lands late of the said Annie Townsend Vandegrift and Gertrude S. Butler, deceased, and lands of William C. Reed, and parallel to said Fourth Street, North, forty-three degrees East, two hundred feet to a corner of lands of Harry E. Wilson; thence along the said line of lands of the said Harry E. Wilson, parallel to Main Street, North, forty-six degrees and thirty minutes West, one hundred feet to the said Southeasterly side of Fourth Street; and thence thereby South, forty-three degrees West, two hundred feet to the place of beginning. Be the contents thereof what they may"; and
WHEREAS, according to an act of the General Assembly of the State of Delaware, passed and approved at Dover, on February 2, 1821 which said act appears as Chapter 43, of Volume 6, of the Laws of Delaware, it fully appears that the said lot, piece or parcel of land herein above described, is the property of the State of Delaware and for many years since 1821, was occupied and used for school purposes, and which has long since been unoccupied and abandoned; and
WHEREAS, it nowhere appears of record or by any law of this State, that the State Board of Education of this State has full power and authority to sell and dispose of the said property as an abandoned and no longer needed school site, and there appears to be considerable uncertainty as to whether or not the State Board of Education or any officer or agent of the State, can give a good and sufficient deed for the said property to a purchaser thereof, without an Act of the General Assembly of this State duly authorizing and directing the same; and
WHEREAS, the said property is no longer of any use in its present condition and should be sold at public auction or vendue to the highest bidder, therefore
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. That the State Board of Education, of this State, be and it is hereby authorized, fully empowered and directed to sell, at public auction or vendue, the said certain lot, piece or parcel of land hereinabove described for cash, to the highest bidder, upon like public notice as required by law for the sale of lands by the Sheriff of New Castle County under execution process; and after such sale, a deed for the said property, duly executed, acknowledged and delivered to the purchaser thereof, by the President and Secretary of the State Board of Education, of the State of Delaware, under the hands and seals of the said President and Secretary, shall grant the said lands and premises to the purchaser thereof, to hold to him, his heirs and assigns forever.
Section 2. That the proceeds of said sale, as provided for in Section 1 of this Act, shall be paid to the Treasurer of the State Board of Education and by him kept in a special fund for building or rebuilding of schools, and paid out by him on the orders of the State Board of Education, in like manner as in respect to the proceeds from other sales of property no longer needed for school purposes, as provided by law.
Approved April 7, 1937.