New Dunbar Center To Be Built For $90,000 On N. Main Site

DUNBAR CENTER SITE: The old County Jail, which was built in 1837 at 627 N. Main St., will be razed this fall, along with the adjacent house (at the right above) to make way for a new, $90,000 Dunbar Community Center.
 

Anonymous 'Donor Gives $50,000:
 

New Dunbar Center To Be Built

For $90,000 On N. Main Site
 

A new, $90,000-plus Dunbar Community Center will be built between 627-703 N. Main St., it was disclosed today by John S. Dobson, chairman of the Dunbar board’s building committee.
 

The part of the building site at 627 N. Main is the location of the old County Jail, an historic landmark which is to be razed.
 

An anonymous donor has contributed more than $50,000 toward the building’s cost, Dodson said.
 

The new, modern-type center of brick and block construction will provide facilities for an average of about 30,000 user, per year.
 

Alden B. Dow & Associates of Midland are the architects for the new center. The Dow firm drew plans for the Board of Education’s new, $720,000 Ann Arbor Public Library now being built.
 

Is Prime-Mover
 

Mrs. Harry A. Towsley, vice-president of the Dunbar board, is the prime-mover behind plans for the long-sought new center. Mrs. Towsley of 1000 Berkshire Rd. is treasurer of the Dunbar building program.
 

The new center will replace what Dobson referred to a cramped, antiquated, inadequate quarters at 420 N. Fourtn Ave., which has been the location of Dunbar since 1937. The old center will be sold to help pay for the new one, Dobson said.
 

The new center will be on the west side of N. Main St. on a 133x140-foot site. It fronts along N. Main for 133 feet. The property was purchased for $44,000 from a Detroit woman who owned the old County Jail site and from Joseph Bedolla of 703 N. Main, according to Dobson.

Other Funds Subscribed

Besides the $50,000 donation, the new center will be built from funds subscribed from the public early in 1956. when Dunbar officials were planning to build a $45,000 addition onto the present center.
 

The addition would have left the center without any outdoor space for programming, Dobson said. Mrs. Towsley led the board in planning for an altogether new center.
 

“I am very pleased the generosity of the community has made this possible,” Paul L. Proud, jr., president of the Dunbar board, said today.
 

Proud predicted razing of the old County Jail and the house at 703 N. Main will begin this fall, when bids will be asked and construction will start. Mid-1958 is the target for completion of the new community center.
 

Facilities Told

Dobson said the new center probably will contain a large assembly room for teen-age dances and gatherings, a number of club and music rooms, a craft workshop and a nursery for pre-schoolers.
 

However, no preliminary plans have yet been drawn up by the Dow firm and the exact kinds of facilities are yet to be determined by Dunbar officials and Dow.
 

About the location of the new center, Dobson said, “It’s going to clean up one of the unsightly areas of the community.”
 

He expressed the opinion that additional voluntary funds are needed for the new center.
 

But there is no indication that the Dunbar board will ask for more money.

Because the Dunbar Community Center is a member of the Ann Arbor Community Chest, its officials must get Chest board approval for any drive for capital improvement funds.
 

Douglas E. H. Williams is executive secretary of the Dunbar center.
 

The center attracts up to 3,-500 users each month, and about 30,000 visits are made there.each year. More than 400  youths and adults are registered at the center.
 

Its underlying goal is the promotion of human relations.
 

Dunbar offers a list of some 30 clubs and classes, ranging from a day camp to the Golden Age Club for those 65 and over, and from bridge to Alcoholics Anonymous,

Usage Given

Church groups hold special meetings at the center. It is a gathering place for the Ann Arbor Baha’i group, the Ann Arbor Civic Forum, the Harriet Beecher Stowe group, the Kings Daughters, Alpha Sigma, and wedding receptions and teas and birthday parties.

The Dunbar center was founded in 1923 by the Rev. R. M. Gilbert.

Besides Mrs. Towsley, Dobson and Proud, Dunbar board members include Mrs. William Johnston, secretary, and Walter S. Wickliffe, treasurer. Others are Mrs. Ralph Harper, Mrs. Marvin Niehuss, Max R. Frisinger, James T. Overbey, jr., Joseph MacFadden, Donald F. Wright and Russell Howard.