It bought the new site in 1986 with an eye toward expanding.

But the town won't buy the site with mobile homes on it.

Sixteen years earlier, a farmer bought the site for $100.

In 1958 another bond was passed that allowed the college to buy the site they were on, and start a building program.

"But then all of a sudden these guys wanted to buy the site," he said.

The cost does not include another $3.8 million - covered in a third bond - to buy the site.

The dispute started after the town bought the entire 182-acre site last year for $1.1 million.

St. James bought the site, a former town house, last year for $1.8 million.

Fundraising to buy the site began in 1934 and continued until 1938.

In 1992, Kessler bought the site from the college, which had closed two years earlier, for $2.4 million.