The city of Taylor lost a piece of its African-American history when a former community center was destroyed in a fire, but some residents are preparing to move ahead.
The members of the Welfare Workers Club, the oldest Black club in Williamson County, operated the Dickey-Givens Community Center and want to rebuild it, said Leslie Hill, the group’s president. It was constructed in 1940 for about $2,000 during segregation to give African-American residentsa place of their own to gather, said Hill, who is Black. She said she still remembers walking across the center’s stage in 1949 for her kindergarten graduation. She also remembers a style show she was in at the center where she wore a dress and jacket she made in her high school home economics class.
“That’s the only time I got a “D” in high school because I couldn’t put the zipper in straight,” she said laughing.
The center hosted weddings, church services, funeral receptions, Girl Scout and Boy Scout meetings, baby showers, birthday parties, style shows, school plays, civic meetings and teen dances.
“It needs to be rebuilt because that’s our heritage,” said Hill.
A fire destroyed the vacant 85-year-old wood-frame building at 903 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Fannie Robinson Park early on Sunday, June 29, according to a city news release. It said the Taylor Fire Department responded to the scene at 8:45 a.m. and brought the blaze under control at 10 a.m. The cause has not yet been determined.
“Our team is working diligently to bring us answers about what caused the fire and closure to those who mourn,” said Taylor Mayor Dwayne Ariola. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of the Dickey Givens Community Center, which served as a cornerstone of the south side of Taylor for generations. … We look forward to receiving proposals about how the old Dickey Givens might be memorialized.”
The community center originally was on Gym Street but was moved to the park in 1960. The building had been closed since 2020 because the city built a new community center in Fannie Robinson Park.
“Before it closed, I had the privilege of attending several events there, most memorably a summer youth program led by my former city council colleague, Gerald Anderson,” former Taylor Mayor Brandt Rydell said in a text message.
The Welfare Workers Club was about to begin renovating the former center when the fire happened, said Don Hill, a club member who is Leslie Hill’s husband and a former mayor of Taylor. “We wanted to make it a historical museum that would also host activities that would not complete with the new community center,” said Hill. The building received a historical marker from the Texas Historical Commission in November, he said. The center had a large open room, a stage flanked by two small rooms, two bathrooms and a small kitchen.
State Rep. Caroline Harris Davila, R-Round Rock, said she is trying to help with the rebuilding effort.
“The loss of the Dickey/Givens Community Center is heartbreaking,” Harris Davila said in an email. “This building was not just a structure — it held nearly a century of stories, resilience, and service to the African-American community in South Taylor. I, along with my office, am committed to honoring the community’s legacy. We are actively working to identify every possible grant — through the state and through private nonprofits — to support the community’s effort to rebuild what was lost and restore a space that has meant so much to them for so long.”
Hill said members of the Welfare Workers Club plan to ask the City Council for money to help rebuild. The cost to rebuild has not yet been estimated, said Don Hill.
The center was partly named after the late Magnolia Dickey, who was responsible for getting it built, he said. Dickey’s husband, Dr. James Dickey, started the first medical clinic for African Americans in Williamson County in 1935.
The center as also was named after Lessie Givens, a retired Taylor school teacher who taught both before and after segregation. Givens, 98, said she was shocked when she first heard the gathering place had burned. She helped operate it for several years and wants to see it rebuilt, she said. Givens said that residents from other nearby towns, including Thrall, used the center because it was affordable.
Leslie Hill said she would like the center not only to be rebuilt but also decorated with items related to the city’s African-American history.
The fire at the center hit hard because the city already had lost another piece of its African-American history when James Dickey’s home burned down in 2022 while it was being renovated to become a health clinic, she said.
A Taylor man initially was charged with arson but a grand jury no-billed him so the case was dismissed.
Construction is expected to start in the fall on both a museum dedicated to Dickey and a multipurpose center at the former site of Dickey’s home, said Jennifer Harris, a Taylor resident who is part of a group to rebuild it.
