Memorializing Center Street, a beloved Black-owned business district and neighborhood in Des Moines
Updated: 9:07 PM CST Feb 5, 2024
STREET IS HOME TO THE OAK RIDGE APARTMENTS AND METHODIST MEDICAL CENTER NOW, BUT IN THE MID 1900S, IT LOOKED COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, AS IT WAS KNOWN AS THE CULTURAL AND BUSINESS HUB FOR THE BLACK COMMUNITY. IN TONIGHT’S PROJECT COMMUNITY. KCCI’S KAYLA JAMES TAKES US BACK IN TIME FOR A LOOK AT A WELL, BELOVED NEIGHBORHOOD ATWOOD. SO THAT DAY, OCTOBER FIFTH WAS A POSITIVE DAY. IT WAS REALLY, REALLY EXCITING TO TO BE A PART OF IT. THERE WERE PEOPLE THAT I HAD NOT SEEN IN MANY, MANY, MANY YEARS. CENTER STREET NOW IS A FAR CRY FROM SEVERAL DECADES AGO. THIS BRINGS BACK SO MANY MEMORIES. THERE’S NO TIME. RUTH ANN GAINES GOES DOWN CENTER STREET NOW AND DOESN’T THINK OF WHAT USED TO BE. THERE WAS ALSO A PHARMACY. AS WE GO UP THIS STREET, CRESCENT BEAUTY SCHOOL WAS OVER HERE AND MRS. PAULINE HUMPHREY WAS THE OWNER, AND MY MOTHER AND MY AUNT USED TO GO THERE AND GET THEIR HAIR DONE. THE BUILDINGS ON CENTER STREET NOW ALL EITHER LOOKING DIFFERENT OR NONEXISTENT. PRICE BOYER TO THE LATE 1960S, THERE WAS A BLACK COMMUNITY ON THE EAST SIDE, BLACK COMMUNITY ON THE SOUTH SIDE, YOU KNOW, BUT BUT EVERYONE CAME TO CENTER STREET BECAUSE CENTER STREET BACK THEN WAS MORE THAN A STREET. IT WAS A NEIGHBORHOOD FILLED WITH BLACK BUSINESSES, CULTURE AND FAMILIES. BUT THESE WERE THE TYPE OF HOUSES, UH, THAT WE LIVED IN, THAT RICHARD DUNCAN REMEMBERS. WELL, I WAS FIVE YEARS OLD WHEN I LIVED ON CENTER STREET. I CAN REMEMBER GOING DOWN WITH MY MOM AND DAD, AND WE’D GO TO DINNER. YOU KNOW, THAT ONCE A WEEK AT AT ONE OF THE RESTAURANTS DOWN THERE, THE BILLIKEN CLUB AND SEPIA CLUB, HOSTING BLACK JAZZ MUSICIANS, RESTAURANTS, BARBERSHOPS, HAIR SALONS, CHURCHES AND MORE, ALL ALL CREATING LASTING MEMORIES FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THE NEIGHBORHOOD, LIKE RICHARD. BUT YOU KNEW EVERYBODY. I COULD COME THROUGH CENTER STREET AND AND FOLKS, PEOPLE WOULD KNOW ME. THAT’S TED SON CENTER STREET BACK THEN. NOW A PIECE OF IOWA HISTORY. HOPEFULLY THAT MAKES US A BETTER MUSEUM TO BE ABLE TO TELL THOSE STORIES THAT MANY LIKE THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA, WORK TO KEEP ALIVE. WE HAVE PHOTOGRAPHS FROM ROBERT PATTON THAT HE WAS DOCUMENTING IN THE 1920S AND 1930S. SOME OF THE FAMILIES THAT WERE LIVING ALONG THE CENTER STREET NEIGHBORHOOD. AND THOSE PHOTOGRAPHS AND PRINTED MATERIAL NOW LINE THE WALL WITHIN THE STATE HISTORICAL MUSEUM. IT HELPS YOU UNDERSTAND THE BREADTH OF THE BLACK PEOPLE LIVING IN CENTRAL IOWA. STATE CURATOR LEO LANDIS BELIEVES THE MATERIALS PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN REMEMBERING WHAT CENTER STREET WAS BEFORE CONSTRUCTION OF I 235 AND THE CITY’S URBAN RENEWAL PLAN DISPLACED HOMEOWNERS AND BUSINESSES. SOME BEING SEEN IN CITIES ACROSS THE NATION. DURING THE MID 1900S, MANY OF THE INTERSTATES THAT WERE BUILT, DIVIDED OR DESTROYED UH, THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITIES LIKE THE CENTER STREET NEIGHBORHOOD, YOU KNOW, WE DON’T HAVE THAT ANYMORE. WE DON’T HAVE THAT THRIVING, UH, BLACK BUSINESS DISTRICT, YOU KNOW, THAT THAT WAS ONCE THERE. JAY SINGLETON IS A BOARD MEMBER WITH THE POLK COUNTY HOUSING TRUST FUND, AN ORGANIZATION THAT HELPED MAKE THE CENTER STREET MARKER POSSIBLE. ALL HIS FAMILY GREW UP IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. YOU KNOW WHAT THEY HAD AND WHAT WAS TAKEN AWAY? UH, YOU KNOW, AGAIN, I THINK I WOULD SAY SOME SADNESS A TYPE OF SADNESS. I MISS IT. I REALLY, REALLY MISS IT. GAINES KNOWS TOO WELL. BUT WHAT YOU WON’T FIND FROM THE 77 YEAR OLD IS ANGER. THERE’S NO SENSE IN BEING ANGRY BECAUSE IT’S ALREADY HAPPENED. THERE’S ACCEPTANCE AND A COMMITMENT SHARED BY MANY TO KEEP THE STORY OF CENTER STREET ALIVE. THAT’S WHY I WAS SO HAPPY TO BE AT THE MARKER CEREMONY, BECAUSE I THOUGHT AT LEAST PEOPLE ARE RECOGNIZING THAT CENTER STREET HAD SOME SIGNIFICANCE. I’LL NEVER FORGET IT. YOU KNOW? I’LL NEVER FORGET IT. AND PROBABLY MOST OF THE PEOPLE THAT YOU TALK TO REMEMBER THE CENTER STREET KIND OF ATMOSPHERE AND THOSE KIND OF TIMES THAT THEY’RE GONE BUT THEY’RE NOT FORGOTTEN IN DES MOINES, KAYLA JAME
Memorializing Center Street, a beloved Black-owned business district and neighborhood in Des Moines
Updated: 9:07 PM CST Feb 5, 2024
Center Street in Des Moines is now home to the Oakridge Apartments, UnityPoint Des Moines’ Methodist Medical Center, and more. However, in the mid-1900s, the street looked completely different and had a more significant meaning to the metro area’s Black community. Prior to the late 1960s, some people referred to it as the Center Street neighborhood. It was known as a business and cultural hub for the Black community. “There was a Black community on the east side, a Black community on the south side,” said Richard Duncan, who lived in the neighborhood when he was younger and is considered a historian by many who know Center Street. “But everyone came to Center Street.”The street and surrounding neighborhood were home to Black families and Black businesses, such as diners, music clubs hosting Black musicians, barbershops, hair salons, and more. “You knew everybody,” said Duncan, who is working on a documentary about Center Street. “I could come through Center Street and folks — people — would know me. They would say, ‘That’s Ted’s son.'”In the late 1960s, homeowners and businesses were displaced due to the construction of I-235 and the city’s urban renewal plan. This happened in many cities across the nation during the time. “Many of the interstates that were built divided or destroyed the African American communities,” said Jay Singleton, a board member with the Polk County Housing Trust Fund. Singleton’s family grew up in the Center Street neighborhood. “To know what they had and what was taken away, I think there was some sadness.”It’s a type of sadness that many who lived on and loved Center Street back then know too well. “I miss it. I really miss it,” said Ruth Ann Gaines, a state representative who remembers her many trips to Center Street well. “I’m not angry. There’s no sense in being angry because it’s already happened.” Instead of anger, there’s an internal commitment by people who remember Center Street to keep its story alive. It’s why dozens of people came out last October to celebrate the unveiling of a marker on Methodist Medical Center grounds honoring Center Street. “That’s why I was so happy to be at the marker ceremony, because I thought at least people are recognizing that Center Street had some significance,” Gaines said.
Center Street in Des Moines is now home to the Oakridge Apartments, UnityPoint Des Moines’ Methodist Medical Center, and more. However, in the mid-1900s, the street looked completely different and had a more significant meaning to the metro area’s Black community.
Prior to the late 1960s, some people referred to it as the Center Street neighborhood. It was known as a business and cultural hub for the Black community.
“There was a Black community on the east side, a Black community on the south side,” said Richard Duncan, who lived in the neighborhood when he was younger and is considered a historian by many who know Center Street. “But everyone came to Center Street.”
The street and surrounding neighborhood were home to Black families and Black businesses, such as diners, music clubs hosting Black musicians, barbershops, hair salons, and more.
“You knew everybody,” said Duncan, who is working on a documentary about Center Street. “I could come through Center Street and folks — people — would know me. They would say, ‘That’s Ted’s son.'”
In the late 1960s, homeowners and businesses were displaced due to the construction of I-235 and the city’s urban renewal plan. This happened in many cities across the nation during the time.
“Many of the interstates that were built divided or destroyed the African American communities,” said Jay Singleton, a board member with the Polk County Housing Trust Fund. Singleton’s family grew up in the Center Street neighborhood. “To know what they had and what was taken away, I think there was some sadness.”
It’s a type of sadness that many who lived on and loved Center Street back then know too well.
“I miss it. I really miss it,” said Ruth Ann Gaines, a state representative who remembers her many trips to Center Street well. “I’m not angry. There’s no sense in being angry because it’s already happened.”
Instead of anger, there’s an internal commitment by people who remember Center Street to keep its story alive. It’s why dozens of people came out last October to celebrate the unveiling of a marker on Methodist Medical Center grounds honoring Center Street.
“That’s why I was so happy to be at the marker ceremony, because I thought at least people are recognizing that Center Street had some significance,” Gaines said.
