Carver's History & legacy
In 1947, Carver Community Center was founded by the Rev. Henry A. Perry, Sr. Dr. George Washington Carver granted consent for Carver to be named after him as requested by Rev. Perry. Rev. Perry developed an action plan, planted a garden to produce product for harvest to help generate funds, and waited on God.
His vision of community and organizational collaboration to benefit students of all ethnic backgrounds is alive and well. Programs to promote wellness for the body, mind, and spirit of youth and families are offered in alignment with our mission "Building on the legacy of our community by promoting health, education, and well-being." Programs include basketball, mentoring, tutoring, drama, art, games, boxing, drug and abuse prevention, after-school services, and computer lab services to supplement student learning.
Contact: Phone: 765-457-9318; Fax: 765-457-9319; Address: 1030 N. Purdum St. | Kokomo, IN 46901
Hours: Monday-Friday 9-6; Closed Saturday and Sunday
Open gym: Monday-Friday 2-6p *subject to change due to other events*
His vision of community and organizational collaboration to benefit students of all ethnic backgrounds is alive and well. Programs to promote wellness for the body, mind, and spirit of youth and families are offered in alignment with our mission "Building on the legacy of our community by promoting health, education, and well-being." Programs include basketball, mentoring, tutoring, drama, art, games, boxing, drug and abuse prevention, after-school services, and computer lab services to supplement student learning.
Contact: Phone: 765-457-9318; Fax: 765-457-9319; Address: 1030 N. Purdum St. | Kokomo, IN 46901
Hours: Monday-Friday 9-6; Closed Saturday and Sunday
Open gym: Monday-Friday 2-6p *subject to change due to other events*
Carver History connection -
Credit to Howard County Historian and friend of Carver Gil Porter.
This is the first in a series of posts that will explore the history of the Carver Community Center neighborhood in Kokomo, Indiana. In the beginning ... people of color in Kokomo had been using the Kokomo Recreation Center twice a month beginning in 1935, and by 1939 community leaders were at work to locate a dedicated center for youth in northeast Kokomo. The Paul L. Dunbar Memorial Community Center was opened in a former tavern at 1000 North Lafountaine Street on April 13, 1939. (Its location is the blue square on this 1916 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Kokomo. Note the original home of Douglass School, green arrow.) The Dunbar center featured ping-pong tables, craft stations, and a small library. Inspired by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's unexpected and gracious visit to Douglass School on Thursday morning, March 14, 1940, the Rev. H. A. Perry, school principal at the time, began a communitywide fund-raising effort to establish a more permanent community center for northside families and youth.
Fundraising for Carver Community Center began in the spring of 1940. The Rev. H.A. Perry, principal of Douglass School from 1927 to 1949, led the fundraising project. According to a “Carver Community Center” history published in 1970, the fundraising committee’s tireless efforts had the following results: Kokomo citizens contributed $6,000, the City Council appropriated $10,000 and then another $20,000 in municipal bonds. (A $32,000 Works Project Administration donation was approved but never appropriated due to the start of World War II.) More than $24,000 was secured from generous donors all around the United States. By the time Carver Community Center was dedicated on June 15, 1948, more than $60,000 had been raised to make the dream of a northside Kokomo recreation center a reality.
In October 1940, the Rev. H.A. Perry reported that “Mother” Perkins had pledged a few dollars to the Carver Community Center fundraising effort. She was identified as “one of the oldest colored settlers” of Howard County. Born in 1858 in Orange County, Indiana, Margaret (Bond) Perkins was the widow of John Perkins, a longtime Kokomo barber. Mrs. Perkins was a member of Wayman Chapel and lived at 700 East Jackson Street (it’s a vacant lot today). She and John had three children: Carl, Leon and Georgia (Perkins) Cochran. Mother Perkins, who died in 1944, did indeed come to Howard County early – she was 12 years old in the 1870 U.S. census when her family was living in New London, Indiana. We’ll learn more about her father next time.
Glen R. Hillis of Kokomo’s notable Hillis family (he was a founding partner of Kokomo’s oldest law firm at the time) gave $500. The Chrysler Corporation gave $250. By October 1940, the fundraising goal for Carver Community Center was within reach. Rev. H.A. Perry, Douglass School principal and lead fundraising organizer, was said to be “thrilled beyond measure” about the community support. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to help, usually $5 or $10. Rev. Perry wrote an announcement about a “pre-victory meeting” to be held at Douglass school and was on his way to deliver the message to the newspaper – when he met up with Mother Perkins. Who was this esteemed lady? She just happened to be the daughter of an important African American pioneer in Kokomo’s history. We will find out next time!
Margaret "Mother" Perkins, whom we met in a previous post, was the daughter of Osborn and Mary Bond. Her father is considered to be the first African American to serve in law enforcement here -- he was named a "special policeman" by the Kokomo City Council in 1889. Bond was born around 1832 in South Carolina. He came to Indiana by at least 1850, and he and Mary started their family probably around the early 1850s. The Bonds lived in New London, then Ervin Township, and on into Kokomo in the 1880s. The Bonds' home was at 415 East Havens Street, on the north side of the alley across from the original Second Missionary Baptist Church building on East Richmond Street. The address was 49 New Haven (old style) in the 1889 city directory. Bond died in 1915.
On Wednesday night, April 3, 1940, every seat at Douglass School in Kokomo, Indiana, was taken when the community met to create the new community center. A permanent organization was formed with Rev. H.A. Perry, president; the Rev. T.H. Ward, vice-president; Mrs. Lottie Liggins, secretary; Miss Mildred Page, assistant secretary, and Mrs. Ella Willadson, treasurer. The first board of directors was elected: Charles Winburn, Cora Ramey, Opal Christian, H.L. Terry, Charles Johnson, Carrie Artis, John Milton, Hobart Barnes and Bradley Morgan. Fundraising started immediately with a terrific response – more than $500 was pledged in about 20 minutes (Douglass teachers led the way with $115). By evening’s end the project had a name -- “G.W. Carver Recreation Center” – to honor the world-renowned scientist Dr. George Washington Carver at Tuskegee University in Alabama. (The illustration shows Dr. Carver featured on the reverse of Missouri's 2024 American Innovation dollar. Text source: “Enthusiastic Start Made on Project of Recreation Center for Colored Youth,” Kokomo Tribune, April 4, 1940, page 3.)
While planning and fundraising continued, construction for the Carver Community Center was temporarily delayed during the war years of World War II (1941-45). During that time, activities and outreach continued at the Paul Laurence Dunbar Memorial Community Center, located at 1000 N. Lafountaine Street (the northeast corner of North Lafountain and East Havens streets). Dunbar Community Center opened in 1939 and served as a hub for community gatherings, youth education and recreation until 1949. We’ll explore more about the Dunbar Center and the eventual opening of Carver Community Center in a future post.
About 450 people attended the grand opening of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Memorial Community Center at 1000 North Lafontaine street on Thursday evening, April 13, 1939. The small two-story building, the Kokomo Tribune reported, was “filled to capacity.” Mrs. Goldie Madry, a distinguished educator in Kokomo and longtime community leader with the local N.A.A.C.P., was the center’s first director (Dunbar Center was eventually replaced by Carver Community Center in 1948). At the Dunbar Center opening event in 1939, Mrs. Madry presented a picture of Dunbar, a noted author and poet, for the building. According to the Tribune account, the picture previously was displayed in “the old school in the vicinity.” This would have been the original Douglass School building at the corner of North LaFountaine and East Richmond streets. Note that E. Richmond was originally named Sharp, and N. Kennedy Street was later renamed Apperson Way. (Public Domain Image courtesy Wikipedia.)
In a previous post, we said that East Richmond Street was originally named Sharp Steet. Turns out it had an even earlier name than that. Carver Member and Howard County Historian Gil Porter, who is researching the Carver neighborhood history, shared this 1889 plat map from the Howard County Recorder’s Office. It shows East Richmond Street was Pratt Street. Gil said the map is also important because it has the first locations for both the A.M.E. Church (Wayman Chapel) and for Douglass School. As for the roads, Gil explained: “It was common for growing towns to update street names. Kokomo made a massive update to names and the address numbering system in the early 1900s.” In fact, Gil noted that North Bell Street was first named Louisa Street. More history highlights to come!
A recent visit to the Rush Cemetery was a powerful way to connect with the past and honor our ancestors. A group from Wayman Chapel A.M.E., led by Pastor William Gary, was joined by Carver Community Center Executive Director J.C. Barnett III and Howard County Historian Gil Porter. They explored the markers and talked about the heritage and culture of the first African American settlement in Howard County. At Aliff Henley’s gravestone, it was noted that the cemetery was part of her land dating back to November 1844. In fact, Mrs. Henley’s 80-acre purchase at that time was the first record of an African American in Howard County.
Indiana state law (May 13, 1869) required that school corporations provide education for African American children in the state if tax money was used for school purposes. In 1870, the Municipal School Corporation of the City of Kokomo began organizing the first two public schools here. The Fourth Ward school house was built on the northwest corner of N. Washington and W. Havens streets (this later became the Columbian School). Teachers were assigned that summer, and classes began in late November 1870. According to the Kokomo Tribune, by February 1871 30 African American children were being taught by a white Quaker woman from New London named Candace Newlin. The location of this temporary “colored school” is a mystery and may have been in a home or some other building. It would be another two years before a city lot was purchased and the first frame schoolhouse was built in the neighborhood.
Legendary musician Billie Holiday visited Kokomo, Indiana, in late 1953 for a Thanksgiving night performance at Carver Community Center. The singer was on a coast-to-coast comeback tour at that stage in her career (she died in 1959 at the age of 44). The Kokomo Tribune estimated between 500 and 600 people attended the event. Holiday had been the headliner on the same bill with Kokomo’s Baggie Hardimon and his “4 Kings" at Club Harlem in Philadelphia in 1951. Their brief association may have led to the invitation. Hardimon was inducted into the Howard County Historical Society Hall of Legends in 2021.
Carver Community Center was just about six months old when the Christmas season of 1948 rolled around. One of the first events that first December was a talent show on the Carver stage. According to the Kokomo Tribune, the event was a cooperative fundraiser with Second Baptist church. Do you know any of the people who shared their talents that evening, or remember the family names?
