Southside Community Center

"The [Serv-Us] league's first 'center' was at 221 S Plain St, where a house was rented to focus activities. In 1930 the organization became known as the South Side Community Center, and, in 1932, a little house at 305 S Plain St was bought as permanent home for the growing group. After the adjoining Preston Melton property had been condemned and razed by the city, the Center purchased the site, razed it[s] own building in 1936, and started the present structure on the combined plot."  

"South Side Center Owes Birth To Negro Woman's Club," The Ithaca Journal, April 26, 1938, 3.

"COLLECTION DESCRIPTION
This collection contains materials of the late James L. Gibbs of Ithaca, from the 1930s and 1940s when he was the program director, and later director of the newly built Southside Community Center. Most of the materials are letters to Mr. Gibbs concerning Southside business, and issues relating to African Americans in Ithaca in the 1930s and 1940s.
It also contains a folder separated from V-1-6-10, containing materials on the donation of photographs from the early Southside years."

James L. Gibbs/Southside Community Center Collection, The History Center in Tompkins County