The History of Thrall

I give and bequeath to the City of Middletown in the County of Orange and State of New York the sum of Thirty Thousand ($30,000) Dollars, to be its and its successors forever, upon condition, however, that the said City of Middletown, N.Y. uses said money in building and constructing & Public Library Building on the lot of land which the said City owns... to be known as "The Thrall Library Building ..." The said Library Building shall at all times be kept for the use of the Public subject to such Rules and Regulations as the Board of Education of the City of Middletown, N.Y. or its successors, shall from time to time adopt and provide for its government and regulation. (My emphasis added.]
Accordingly the library was built and turned over to the
City in 1901. It was to be administered by the school board but
paid for by city taxes. [My emphasis.) This stipulation has
caused all the trouble. In the early years Middletown schools
were for city residents only, paid for with city taxes, and the
mayor was ex-officio school trustee. In the 1930's the school district became independent, boundaries enlarged, and the board
was given a taxing power of its own. In the 1950's the school
district became the enlarged school district of the city of
Middletown with even larger boundaries and a far greater tax base
than the city's. Problems began to develop for funding the 11brary by the City, especially during the urban renewal of the
1960's, when the City of Middletown was collecting all the taxes
from the city, but the school district was in fact much larger
and awfully generous with the city's money. The school board