Brand New West Medford Community Center Opens
“This is a Good Day for the City”
Members of the West Medford Community Center Board and Mayor Michael McGlynn are all smiles as they cut the ribbon for the new community center at 111 Arlington Street. From left, Candace Carter Smalley, Rachel Tanner, City Councilor Robert Penta, Alice Isaacs, Mayor McGlynn, Stephen Douglas, and Calvin Lindsay.
– Allison Goldsberry
Built during a time of segregation, the original West Medford Community Center, a surplus army barracks made of steel, served as a safe place for African Americans to gather and socialize.
Located in the heart of Medford’s historic African American community at 111 Arlington Street, only ten or so men at the time dug out a basement for the building and constructed it piece by piece.
That was in 1933, and Alice Isaacs’ husband, Walter Isaacs, was one of those men.
Walter passed away in 1994, but his wife Alice was one of many Medford residents who attended the opening ceremony for the new community center Thursday morning.
“This is a good day for the city…We waited a long time for this,” said West Medford Community Center Board president Rachel Tanner.
“The brand new West Medford Community Center has risen from the ashes and stands here as a symbol of this great community,” said Mayor Michael McGlynn.
The old army barracks has been replaced by a spacious two-story building with a patio overlooking Dugger Park.
The new center includes a function room, a commercial kitchen, a performing arts space, and a technology room.
Tanner said the Board has visions of the center having afterschool activities for things such as homework and writing tutorials, a senior lunch program, meeting space for community groups, and even a culinary arts program.
In order for that to happen, the center needs community support, and Tanner urged people to donate their time, expertise, and money so the center can benefit everyone in the community.
Many Medford residents have fond memories of growing up with the community center. They attended Boy Scout meetings and Friday night dances, or went down to “the center,” as it was simply known, just to hang out and talk.
Board member Candace Carter Smalley said the center was “the place that let us know that we were part of a community.”
Growing up, Carter Smalley cooked, danced, and watched movies at the center, and she’s thrilled a new generation of people will also have a chance to grow up with the center, too.
More…
Visit West Medford’s online community newspaper, “The Ville Briefs,” and watch a photo slideshow of the old community center
The community center and the West Medford Afro-American Remembrance Project