Vashon Community Center

The Vashon Community Center is located in St Louis, MO.

It’s an historic building that houses the Wolff Jazz Institute and the National Black Radio Hall of Fame. Harris-Stowe State University contributed $3 million towards its renovation and expansion. The renovation includes an addition on the building’s north side that will serve as a new accessible entry, bringing the facility to a total of 15,459 square feet.

This building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. When it opened in 1937, it was one of a few public recreational facilities available to the Black community due to segregation at the time. According to campus history, Harris-Stowe State University was given the community center and its land from the city of St. Louis for $10 in 1999. In 2009, the university received $1 million in federal grants from the National Park Service to stabilize the structure of the building and restore the exterior. The floorplan of the building includes a repository for historical documents and holds works from the former U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay Sr., D-St. Louis; the late Frankie Muse Freeman, prominent St. Louis attorney and civil rights leader; and the late Henry Givens Jr., president emeritus of HSSU.