150-year-old church sells with agreement not to tear it down

RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) — A 150-year-old church has been purchased in Rutland with a clause preventing the building from being torn down, according to the reverend of the First Baptist Church.

The sale to an unnamed buyer earned the congregation $20,000 to help find a new home, with some of the building's contents selling at auction for even more, said the Rev. Patricia Stratton, according to the Rutland Herald.

The congregation had become too small and could not afford to keep up with the building's deferred maintenance, Stratton said. She made an appeal to the public in May to find someone to take over the building without tearing it down.

Stratton tried to find a local organization to share the building with the congregation and even tried to give it away to area nonprofits, the newspaper reported.