Millbrook turns out

Millbrook turns out
From left, theater designer David Korins, Millbrook Community Partnership CEO Cora Cahan and MCP President Oakleigh Thorne in the Thorne Building. 
Photo by Judith O’Hara Balfe

MILLBROOK — More than 200 residents turned out for a community forum with the Millbrook Community Partnership on Sunday, Nov. 5, to discuss the nonprofit’s latest updates on two of Millbrook’s most visible civic projects: the transformation of the dilapidated Beaux-Arts Thorne Building, once the town’s first public high school, into the Thorne Community Center; and the opening of Bennett Park on the site of the former Bennett College.

The Millbrook Community Partnership (MCP) was formed in 2017 with the sole purpose of repurposing the two derelict sites, which had for decades sat untouched and  moldering at either end of Franklin Avenue.

 Cora Cahan, CEO of MCP, stressed the communal nature of the organization’s plans.

“This will be for the people who live here,” Cahan said. She described the Community Center as a place “where one can ply one’s imagination. There are all kinds of exciting possibilities.” 

When MCP asked local residents what they felt that Millbrook needed some three years ago, residents responded that they wanted a communal gathering space: a community center that would further education, culture and the community spirit.

MCP’s renovation of the Thorne building aims to restore the original architecture and overhaul its technological capacity.

What will become the Thorne Community Center abuts the property that was formerly Bennett College, which MCP is now transforming into a 35-acre park. Plans include  a network of trails, a museum, a visitors’ center and an outdoor arts venue.

According to MCP, the Thorne Community Center will include a performance center to show films, dance recitals, and theater; a technology center intended to support public access to digital resources; a kitchen for event catering and culinary lessons; co-working and meeting spaces; and a recording studio.

On Sunday, David Korins of Korins Studio, which will be designing the theater and other spaces in the Center, spoke about the importance of preserving the building’s history in its new design. Korins, whose studio has designed more than 20 popular Broadway productions, said that, often mistakes are made when a building’s past is erased. 

MCP also presented on the three development phases of Bennett Park, two of which have yet to get underway.

They showed slides of the new Greek theater, designed by Lynden Miller; fields  left open for fairs and events; and plans for wooded areas with hiking trails.

A wall made of the stones from Halcyon Hall, a stone tower in a play area for children, and a small bridge are also planned; so is a wildflower meadow and lodging for guest artists. The bandshell will be moved to a new location, and possibly added to.

Also in the future is the new Exmoor Visitors Center, and the Bennett Museum. 

Of the $25 million in gifts initially sought, $18.5 million has already been raised. The Millbrook Tribute Garden made an anchor gift that will continue for 20 years. The Bechtel Osborne Art Gallery, the Donald Tober Culinary Center, the Community Workspace in Memory of David R. Hathaway, and the William Platt Harmonica Practice Studi have also made gifts.

Finally, a triumphant slide went up: “News Flash!,” it read, “As of this very moment the Eastern portion of Bennett Park is officially OPEN!” 

The audience was invited to finish their cider and donuts, take another look at the bones of the building and appreciate the intricate architectural details that will remain, then adjourn to Bennett Park, to see and enjoy the first finished section.

Latest News

Stanford home market sees nine sales in July and August

Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.

Christine Bates

STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.

At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.

Keep ReadingShow less
Out on the trail
Nathan Miller

Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.

Millbrook Library dedicates pollinator pathway garden

Joining in the fun at the dedication of the new pollinator pathway garden at The Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4, local expert gardener Maryanne Snow Pitts provides information about a planting to Lorraine Mirabella of Poughkeepsie.

Leila Hawken

MILLBROOK — Participating in a patchwork of libraries that have planted pollinator pathway gardens to attract insects and birds to their native plantings was one of the accomplishments being celebrated at the dedication of a new pollinator garden at the Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4.

“A lot of work went into it,” said Emma Sweeney, past President of the Millbrook Garden Club, who started the local library’s initiative two years ago.

Keep ReadingShow less
Amenia Town Board continues discussing board alternates

Amenia Town Hall on Route 22.

Nathan Miller

AMENIA — After gathering comments from the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals, as it considers adding alternate members to those boards, the Town Board discussed possible changes to local laws governing those boards at its meeting on Friday, Oct. 3. The meeting date, usually on a Thursday, had been changed to accommodate a holiday.

In recent weeks Town Board attorney Ian Lindars has been compiling comments from the affected boards along with comments from the Town Board. The new laws may bring the appointment of two alternate members to each board. Alternate members are likely to be required to attend all meetings and be prepared to be seated if needed and be familiar with the applications being discussed. They would also need to take training required of all board members.

Keep ReadingShow less