The Maeser School Apartments opened in November and now has clear title. So do Jose and Meagan Sanchez, whose new home sits on a corner of the land Loose donated.

Construction on the final seven homes around the former school can now begin. They must be completed by next summer to meet a deadline for funding all of the projects.

The Charles Edwin Loose and Mary Jane Loose Memorial at Maeser School will be a plaza with a sandstone plaque bearing the images of the colorful Loose, present as a 12-year-old when the Golden Spike was driven in Utah, and his wife.

Peterson said $5,000 will go to a scholarship fund in his father's name, Edwin L. Peterson, at Utah State University. The scholarship is presented each year to a student who wants to teach geography, as Loose's grandson did at USU.

The final $5,000 goes to one of the heirs to cover attorney's fees.

First American Title and Fidelity Title will each contribute $10,000, according to a copy of the settlement obtained by the Deseret Morning News.

First American Title officials declined to talk about the Maeser/Loose deed specifically, but it isn't unusual for a title search to stop short of exploring back 100 years, company vice-president and regional counsel Blake Heiner said.

Loose's condition that if the playground was removed the property would be returned to his family — called a right of reverter — is extremely rare.

"I would have to say, in my 30 years in this business, this is the first time I've seen a right of reverter anywhere but in a law school exam," Heiner said. "These type of things don't happen in today's world."

Many neighbors were angry to lose the school park, but efforts to build the required new homes elsewhere failed. Major Provo parks sit three and four blocks away from the former school.

Carlson said the public is invited to enjoy the Loose Plaza.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com