State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/115131

The halls of Live Oak’s Douglass Center are filled with history dating back to its original use in the 1950s as an all African-American school before integration took place in the late 1960s. Recently in disuse and in disrepair, the center on Ontario Avenue is beginning to see some much-needed renovations, starting with the Corporal Gary L. Edwards Memorial Gymnasium.

The support of organizations like the nonprofit Douglass High School (DHS) Alumni and Historical Association, Inc. and Friends of the Douglass Center, the Police Athletic League (PAL), the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office, and the Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners have put the Douglass Center on track to becoming a fully functional facility again.

Suwannee County Sheriff Tony Cameron, who is closely involved with PAL, helped jumpstart the restoration project in January by asking county commissioners to allocate $50,000 of the Sheriff’s Office’s returned funds towards the Douglass Center. Half of that sum would be used specifically for the gymnasium floor while the other half would go towards general renovations; the commissioners approved.

“The Douglass Center is part of our community and part of the heritage of Suwannee County,” Cameron said. “Some parts of it are not cost-effective to repair, but certain parts can be restored and used again.

“The gym floor needed to be refurbished,” continued Cameron. “It was becoming unsafe; we couldn’t let the kids play ball and we also wanted other members of the community to be able to come in.”

The gym floor began undergoing renovations earlier in March. In 2011, when the gym was dedicated to Corporal Gary Edwards, the gym exterior was also painted and the roof was replaced.

Former PAL director and current member of the board of directors for the DHS Alumni and Historical Association Jimmy Cherry said the renovations at the gym are just a small part of what he and others involved would like to get done.

“The Douglass Center is in a central location for club meetings or daycare,” said Cherry, an alumni of DHS. “There’s nowhere else in the community to have those types of things.”

PAL Director Arnold Philmore, who also attended DHS, explained future plans for renovating the cafeteria into an event center, implementing a museum, and updating and adding restrooms. Suwannee County Commissioner and former DHS student Clyde Fleming agreed, adding that the center is a beacon for local youth.

“It’s a refuge for these kids,” Fleming said. “If it could be facilitated as a community thing and we could get volunteers involved, this place could be restored.”

Currently, there is a music mentoring program for youth run by Antwan Jones (see article, this edition) on weekday afternoons at the Douglass Center. During the summer, the PAL program operates for six weeks out of the center and provides many local children with reading and math tutoring, fun activities, and meals at very little expense. Several large events have also been held at the Douglass Center, such as the annual May Day, alumni reunions, basketball tournaments, and a Father’s Day celebration, but folks supporting the center believe it can be used even more.

Many classrooms are in need of fresh paint, drywall, new carpeting or tiles, and updated furniture. More extensive work needs to be done in electrical, heating, and air systems, Cherry said.

Fleming, whose district encompasses the Douglass Center, has kept an eye out for it ever since he became elected, he said.

“Four years ago, the county talked about bulldozing it all down,” Fleming recalled. “That didn’t go over too well with the community. We started looking for grants to renovate, the Alumni Association became involved, and a committee formed.”

The support from local organizations and agencies and potential state grants can help revive the center from years of disrepair and vandalism. An arsonist burned out two rooms in 2013; a group of juveniles destroyed almost $30,000 of the last attempt at renovations in the cafeteria; and copper thieves have stolen from air conditioning units. Cherry said they also sometimes find  squatters who break into rooms for shelter.

The Douglass Center also suffered from flooding during Tropical Storm Debby in 2012, resulting in leaking roofs and mold damage, according to Philmore. Other program coordinators have requested space at the center, but the potential health and safety hazards have made the county cautious in approving programs in certain rooms.

“The Douglass Center is an icon that should be restored for Suwannee County,” said Cherry. “It can be utilized for a lot of things instead of just going to waste.”

One program Cherry said he would like to see implemented at the Douglass Center is another tutoring program similar to PAL but held throughout the school year.

“One thing we don’t have around here is an after school program to help kids with homework or to prepare them for the next day of school,” Cherry said. “The PAL program does a great job during the summer, but we need something during the school year.”

For now, the Douglass Center is coming back to life one step at a time. The gymnasium floor renovation is near completion, soon to be followed by an updated lobby and bathrooms. If the county is awarded a state historic preservation grant, renovations could continue in the cafeteria and elsewhere, said DHS Alumni and Historical Association President Robert Ford.

Originating from the DHS Reunion Committee, the DHS Alumni and Historical Association is a nonprofit that aims to maintain the history of the DHS and identify ways to upkeep the Douglass Center, according to Ford. The association is open to “alumni of DHS, friends, and students from all the African-American schools that once existed in Suwannee County,” Ford stated.

If you would like more information or want to join the Douglass High School Alumni and Historical Association, Inc. and Friends of the Douglass Center, e-mail Robert Ford at dhs.alumni.asso@gmail.com.

If you are interested in volunteering with the PAL activities at the Douglass Center, please call 386-208-1494. Volunteers must pass a background check.

The History of the Douglass Center

According to Ford, Douglass High School was relocated to the current Douglass Center property around 1956. Originally an all African-American school in a time of segregation in Live Oak, DHS was named after Frederick Douglass, an anti-slavery advocate and social reformer in the mid-1800s, according to Suwannee County School District documents.

Historian Louise Hicks Hall traced the history of Douglass High School for the 2014 alumni reunion in a narrative entitled “Milestones In The Education of Blacks In Suwannee County From the Perspective of ‘Mrs. Louise Hicks Hall’.”

Hall wrote that the original DHS was constructed in 1887 on South Houston Avenue in Live Oak across the street from “The Free School,” the first black school in Suwannee County established in 1869 whose buildings eventually became incorporated into DHS.

According to Hall, Douglass Elementary School was built in 1949 on the current Douglass Center property. Buildings to house the “New Douglass High School” were built on that same property around 1955 or 1956. The elementary and high schools joined, forming a 30-classroom bloc plus other facilities and sports fields, including Dansby’s Field, a football field named in honor of the principal at the time, T.D. Dansby. The gymnasium was constructed in 1965, according to Hall. The new DHS mascots were the Tigers and Tigerettes and the school’s colors were green and gold, the same colors the Suwannee County School District uses today.

The class of 1969 was the last graduating class of the New DHS after integration took place in Suwannee County, Hall wrote. DHS became Suwannee Middle School for students of all races around 1969 or 1970.

When the new Suwannee Middle School was built in 1990, the former middle school was renamed the Douglass Center, according to Hall. The center was used to house alternative school and pre-kindergarten classes until 2006. In 2008, the county acquired the Douglass Center from the Suwannee County School District, who sought to “dispose of the property because of insurance and maintenance costs,” according to school officials in 2008.

Now under county management, the Douglass Center is poised to become a community center for educational and mentorship programs, sports tournaments, reunions, meetings, and other events.