Dunbar Recreation Center WV

08/03/2025

Taking Preorders on Monday and Thursday from 11a-3pm. Call to place your order for pickup only @ 304-797-1591. Thank you for your support! Keep sharing!

Share .. share.. share❤️❤️

07/15/2025

Share .. share.. share❤️❤️

01/16/2023

Additional details about today’s celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s tremendous life and legacy can be seen at the following link:

Members of the community were able to gather Monday at the Dunbar Recreation Center in Weirton to commemorate and celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King J

09/14/2022

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us on August 20, 2022, to celebrate the Dunbar Recreation Center's addition to the National Register of Historic Places! It was a wonderful night, and we are very grateful to the many sponsors and supporters who made the evening possible. In this post are highlight photos of our many wonderful attendees, the evening's esteemed speakers, and the event's commemorative souvenirs.

The Dunbar Recreation Center's addition to the National Register of Historic Places became official on July 22, 2021, and the property became eligible for listing because of its significant contribution to Weirton's African American history.

"The land parcel on which the building stands was conveyed to Dunbar High School Principal Dr. Anthony J. Major on June 5, 1944, and the completed building was officially opened just six months later, on December 21, 1944. In this building, both African American adults and youth from eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia's northern panhandle were able to congregate and celebrate significant community events and achievements. The Center became a vibrant community meeting place, an auditorium, a banquet hall, a location for graduation ceremonies and a gymnasium for just over a quarter of a century."*
*(The above quoted text appeared as part of the original application for the United States Department of Interior National Park Service /National Register of Historic Places Registration Form)

Thank you again to everyone who is helping us to preserve an incredibly valuable part of our community's rich history!

08/16/2022

WEIRTON — A building which has, for years, served the well-being of the local Black community is now recognized as a historical landmark. The Dunbar Recreation Center, located at 300 Kessel St. in Weirton, officially became West Virginia’s newest addition to the National Register of Historic Pla...

08/05/2021

Thank you so much to the Weirton Daily Times for this wonderful editorial in the Thursday, August 5, 2021 edition!

07/23/2021

We are overjoyed to announce that the Dunbar Recreation Center—which is located at 300 Kessel Street and has been a vital, tri-state-serving community hub since its dedication on December 21, 1944—has been formally recognized as a National Historic Landmark! On Thursday, July 22, 2021, the Dunbar Recreation Center (DRC) was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) for its contribution to Weirton’s African American history. The DRC’s official NRHP number is 100006740.

The process of getting the DRC on the National Historic Register began in October 2019 and involved significant historical research, the compilation of bibliographic resources and maps, the drawing of floor plans (as there were no historical floor plans on record), and the composition of two multi-page essays, one on the building’s architectural structure and another longer essay on its historical significance. The DRC board and the Weirton Area Museum & Cultural Center are so grateful that this amazing building, which has been the site of so many significant events and has been the center of so many local children’s lives, will be forever honored as a part of our nation’s history!

06/04/2021

We are so excited to announce that the West Virginia Archives and History Commission has approved our National Historic Register nomination of the Dunbar Recreation Center, which received a unanimous vote for approval by AHC Commissioners at today’s meeting at the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey offices, located at Mont Chateau in Morgantown, West Virginia.

We learned that the Center was the first historical property in Weirton to be successfully sent for review to the National Parks Service in 17 years!

What’s next? It will now be sent on to the federal level, specifically to the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., for review. We should know their decision later this summer.

When we arrived at our meeting at 9:30 am, the Commissioners had already read our several-inch thick application. Our job was to create a 3-5-minute presentation that expressed our passion about making this building one that the nation should also cherish. We're sharing that presentation just below:

>>Today’s presentation (to be viewed in conjunction with the five slides appearing in this post)