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Title
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Needmore Community and Recreation Center
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Subject
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Needmore Community and Recreation Center
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Description
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In the Greer City Directory of 1915, there are 4 black neighborhoods listed: Greentown, Needmore, Maple Creek, and Slabtown, which would be later known as Sunnyside. The Needmore community is described as "a colored people settlement, lies half mile north of city on National Highway" (W. Poinsett Avenue), which was the major road for travel between Greenville and Spartanburg. One of the outstanding citizens of the community was James S Jenkins Jr., known as Jim, who was a master brick mason. Mr. Mason, who moved to Greer in 1898, worked on the original manholes along Emma Street (W. Poinsett St.) and is credited with building the brick smoke stacks of Franklin Mill in 1900. He was also a charter member of Maple Grove Baptist Church and worked to raise funds for the Bailey View Academy in Greentown so that African-American children would have a school to attend in Greer.
After Bailey View burned in 1924, Dunbar was built in Sunnyside, but the Needmore community desired a school closer to their homes. In 1936, Greer School District authorized a two-teacher school for African-American children if the community would provide the land and building. In 1937, property was donated by B.D. Henson for that purpose, and the community raised funds. In the midst of the Depression which was followed by WWII, the school district failed to act, citing lack of money to proceed. It was not until the 1950s that a school was opened in the neighborhood in a war surplus Quonset hut that was moved to the site on Canteen Avenue. The neighborhood children attended this school for 4 or 5 years until Lincoln, between Greer and Taylors, was completed in the mid-1950s.
After the school closed, the Quonset hut was used by an African-American men's club. Citing problems with the club, the city purchased the land in 1959, removed the old barracks, and constructed the Needmore Center as part of the Recreation Department building program the also produced the Tryon Street Park and Recreation Center. The city had asked the public to vote for a $100,000 bond to initiate the building program and had been turned down. The Joycees pushed for passage, and the community responded by passing it the second time it was on the ballot. Land was added several times to expand the Needmore Park area. Land for the tents court was bought from the Harrison family.
John Henry Lyles, an African-American teacher at Lincoln and later Greer Middle School, was hired part-time to run an after-school program. One of his sources of funds for programs was the concession stand at the center. Another school teacher, Benny Brown, was also a director of the center.
When the center fell into disrepair, there was talk of removing the building. The community urged the city to keep the center as a much-needed recreational and educational facility for their neighborhood, prompting Council Woman Martha King to put her neighborhood redevelopment funds into the renovation of the center. Phyllis Wheatley Center took on the programming at the center until a disagreement on funding caused this organization to leave and the city to take on the operation of the center.
Today there is an active senior citizen program that is attended by both African-Americans and whites. Senior Action sends lunch meals, and programs are planned by a director. In 1997, Ms. Agnes Davis Young, Senior Program Manager, was recognized by the South Carolina General Assembly for "her outstanding dedication as the Director of Senior Citizens, City of Greer."
The donation of computers to the center helped young people in the after-school program. Other programs make use of the center, such as the children's theater that often holds its auditions in the large meeting room. It is also a city polling location. Located in the middle of the Needmore Community, the center is an easy walk for most of its citizens and provides an identifying landmark for the neighborhood.
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Creator
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Joada Hiatt (Former Curator of Greer Heritage Museum)
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Date
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Prepared January 2, 2007
Published April 5, 2024