The Community Center on 119th Street?

A 1955 photo from the Times-Grafic, which shows the bowling alley that was once in the Community Center. You can hear stories of the bowling alley from Al Koch, a former pin setter at the alley, on the tour of the Community Center on Saturday, September 28.

Imagine how different downtown Whiting would look if the Community Center had been built on 119th Street. It almost happened.  

Instead, the Community Center has been a fixture on Clark Street since 1923, and thousands of Whiting-Robertsdale residents spent at least a portion of their lives in the building. But as familiar as it is, there are portions of the Community Center that many of us have never seen, and portions that haven’t been seen in years.

This Saturday, however, you will have a chance to reacquaint yourself with the building. The Whiting Family YMCA is opening its doors for a behind the scenes look at the Community Center. You will be able to see the 800-seat auditorium, gym, pool, Memorial Room, caretaker’s apartment, underground tunnels, and relive memories of the bowling alley.

At the same time, the city of Whiting will hold an “Historic Flea Market,” giving guests to the Community Center an opportunity to buy historic street bricks, street signs, the old Whiting Park (WP) posts, original bowling lane pieces, and more. All revenue from the sale of these items will go toward a fund for the development of a Whiting History Museum.

Tour times are available at 10 A.M. to 11:50 A.M., and from noon to 1:50 P.M. You must register in person at the YMCA or at crymca.org. The cost is $20 per person, with all proceeds from the tours going to the Financial Assistance Program of the YMCA, which provides funds that give everyone a chance to use the facilities of the YMCA in Whiting regardless of their financial situation.

The Memorial Room is one of the least used rooms in the Community Center, and one of the best preserved. It will be open for this Saturday’s guided tour of the building.

As for the Community Center almost being built on 119th Street, the story starts in 1919, when members of the Owls Club approached Standard Oil for help in building a new facility that would provide a space for the club’s athletic programs and other activities. A large portion of the Owls Club consisted of the most promising young men in Standard Oil and in the city’s business and political community. They were able to persuade the company to provide financial support, but the company felt it would be better to build a facility for the community, not for the Owls Club. The Owls Club members agreed, and played an important role in getting the Community Center built.

Standard Oil then began searching for land on which to build the proposed facility. Their first choice was on the north side of 119th Street, between Central and LaPorte Avenues. They entered into negotiations with the owners, but pulled out of the talks when it became obvious that the owners were not willing to sell at a price Standard Oil found acceptable.

This is the site where the Whiting Community Center now stands. There were twenty small cottages here in 1923, on what was then called Short Street. All were torn down to make room for the Community Center.

Instead, the company purchased land owned by the Forsythe family on what was then called Short Street. A series of twenty small cottages lined that street. Across the street was a blacksmith shop and the city barn. All were demolished to make room for the Community Center, and the new Methodist Church across the street.  Both buildings still stand, and the section of 119th Street that could have been the site of the Community Center continues to be the home of a drug store on one end, a bank on the other, and several businesses in between. It could have looked very different, if only the price had been right.

Schrage Family History is Early Whiting History

Almost everyone in Whiting-Robertsdale knows where the Schrage Mansion is. But very few probably know that Henry Schrage, the Whiting pioneer who built the house in the early 1900s, once kept a yard full of chickens on his property.

 You can learn much more about the Schrage family, and the key role they played in the early history of Whiting, at the September meeting of the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society. Speakers Anthony Contrucci and Kirsten Markusic will also talk about Centier Bank, which is still a successful business almost 125 years after it was created by Henry Schrage as the Bank of Whiting. There is no charge to attend the meetings of the Historical Society, and all are welcome to attend. It will begin at noon on Thursday, September 26, and will be held on third floor of the Mascot Hall of Fame. To attend, go to the front desk of the museum to sign in.  

The Schrage Mansion is in the background. In the foreground is the lot where Immaculate Conception Church once stood. But before the church was built in the 1920s, Henry Schrage used this lot next to his home to raise chickens.

 The chickens that were kept next to the Schrage family home, which is at 2006 Schrage Avenue, were a fond memory that Virginia Schrage Hauser had of her grandfather’s house. Virginia shared some of her memories in a letter to the Historical Society in 1976. She said the chickens were kept on the lot to the south of the home. The only thing on that lot these days is the grotto to the Immaculate Conception. The Immaculate Conception Church stood there until recently. But even before the church was built, the lot was owned by Henry Schrage, and he used it for his chickens.

 “I would ride my bike over to grandpa’s house and get fresh eggs,” Virginia remembered. “My grandmother, Caroline Wuesenfeld, died when I was a young child,” she wrote. Caroline Wuesenfeld Schrage died in 1916. Henry lived until 1932. ”My aunt and uncle and cousins moved into grandpa’s house,” Virginia said, writing about the period after her grandmother’s death. “When Grandpa sold the property on Schrage Avenue, they all moved to Cleveland Avenue.”

 Although he didn’t have chickens at the new location, 1646 Cleveland Avenue, Henry Schrage continued to enjoy the fresh food that nature provided. “There,” Virginia wrote, “Grandpa kept bees. I can remember him sitting in the back yard among the beehives.”

As the owner of the community’s first general store, a postmaster, a town official, a township official, and a banker, Henry Schrage was a major figure in the early history of Whiting.

 Henry Schrage first came to Whiting in 1854, with his parents. Henry was around ten years old. They settled on 50 acres of land. The family moved to Chicago for a time, and Henry served in the Union Army in the Civil War. He participated in the battles of Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain, and was one of the soldiers who accompanied Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman on his March to the Sea.

 After the war, Schrage returned to Whiting and worked with the railroad section hands who were stationed here to maintain the tracks in the area. In 1868, he not only married Caroline Wuesenfeld, but he also opened a general store close to the tracks on 119th near Front Street. It was the first retail business in the city. Caroline did much of the work at the store, while Henry continued his work with the railroad. In 1871, he became the city’s first postmaster, with his store serving as the post office. In the early days of the community, he also served as a town alderman and as a township trustee.

 When Standard Oil arrived in 1889, Henry sold some of his land to them and helped the company purchase the rest of what they needed to build a refinery. “With his foresight,” his granddaughter Virginia wrote years later, “he invested his profits in real estate in the area.” And on April 21, 1895, he opened the Bank of Whiting. In 1911, the bank moved from its location at the east end of 119th Street, to its present site at 119th and New York Avenue.