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Celebrating
community
Published October 15, 2009
Residents in the town of Woodville
are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the town's Bob
Jones Community Center on Sunday, Nov. 1. “It’s like
a big homecoming gathering for everyone to come and
visit,” said Woodville town clerk Brenda Austin. The
celebration event, hosted by the five-member
Woodville Parks and Recreation Board, will be held
Sunday, Nov. 1 from 2 until 4 p.m. inside the community
center downtown. In addition to the building being 100
years old, it has also been 25 years since the people of
Woodville acquired the building
and began using it. Former Congressman Bob Jones donated
the facility to the town in the early 1980s, having used
the old J.R. Kennamer store building to house
memorabilia he’d collected while in Congress. Former
Alabama Governor George Wallace awarded the town a
$50,000 community development block grant in September
1983 to renovate the facility. The Bob Jones Community
Center, named for the former congressman,
was dedicated August 25, 1984. Now the town rents one
side of the facility for social occasions, while the
other half serves as a historical museum, filled with
pictures and heirlooms from families in the community.
Austin said Mayor Faye Cook will welcome all who attend,
and then the event will be more a social gathering.
“We haven’t held any in a good while where people
can get together, talk, have refreshments and tour
historical buildings,” Austin said. She said people
will be welcome to tour the community center, Hodges
Barber Shop, and other historic structures downtown.
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