It’s a library, a senior center and a kiosk for community information; it’s also a place to hold meetings, take classes, and attend the occasional rummage sale. The Kingston Community Center is truly the hub of our small town. It’s also only a single chapter in Kingston’s 75-year history of civic centers, and this particular chapter is drawing to a close.

Sometime in the next decade a new community center will open its doors in Kingston’s long-awaited Village Green. As the town’s third successive social center, it will be designed specifically for that purpose, unlike the current center originally built as a church. The new center will have more space to accommodate a wider range of clubs and societies. However, it almost certainly won’t be built for free.

Kingston Community Hall: 1930s to 1950s

Turn the clock back to the 1930s, when Kingston’s first community hall was constructed by volunteer labor with materials donated by Pope and Talbot. Located on Highway 104 on the site that now holds the vacated downtown fire station, the old Kingston Community Hall was a busy place, according to longtime Kingston resident Jack Minert.

“We had public meetings, Fourth of July picnics and Christmas parties at the old hall. During World War II a Juvenile Deputy Sheriff hosted moving pictures,” Minert reminisced. “It had a kitchen, a stage with dressing rooms and a pool table. There was also a full basketball court that the kids could use anytime; all we had to do was figure out whose dad had a key and could wait around to close up when we were done.”

Minert also recalled Friday night square dances and community events such as the Fall Festival at which farmers sold produce, and the cake walk was a crowd favorite.

During the years of the community hall – from the mid-1930s until the mid-1950s – the military became an important fixture in the Kingston area, and the hall played its part. Minert remembered during World War II when the hall housed an Army Air Force Signal Corps detachment whose job it was to maintain the local phone lines. The reason for this was the observation tower on 288th Street where civilian volunteers kept a lookout for enemy invasion. A W8 phone at the tower rang through to McChord Air Force Base or Paine Field, so it was essential that the phone lines be functional at all times.

Minert also told of when the community hall scheduled a boxing match between the Navy’s heavyweight champion of the Pacific Fleet and the Army’s champion from Fort Lewis. When the soldier saw the size of the sailor, Minert said, he tried to cancel the fight. The match went ahead, and the Navy pugilist was victorious.

So what brought an end to this popular center? In Minert’s opinion, it was television. When TV came in, he said, residents spent less time going out. Eventually the old building was torn down and nearly 20 years later a new fire station was built on the site. The hall’s records were lost.

Kingston Community Center: 1985 to present

More than three decades later Kingston’s interest in a community center was renewed by three events: the closure of the grange hall near Kountry Korner, the local library branch outgrowing its room in the Old Kola Kole Schoolhouse, and the need of the Kingston Seniors for a permanent venue.

The current Kingston Community Center was founded in 1985 when Kitsap County purchased the old Bayside Church at the juncture of Central and Iowa avenues. For the first 12 years the center was operated by the Community Center Board of Directors. In 1997, the county took up operation and the board was replaced by the Kingston Community Center Foundation. In addition to providing support for the existing center, the foundation is partnering with the county to develop a new center at the Village Green.

The Kingston Community Center holds three meeting rooms (one up, two down), Senior Center, the local branch of the Kitsap Regional Library, the Kingston Chamber of Commerce information center, and the center office. Although Kitsap County handles the leasing of the large upstairs meeting room, rental of the two downstairs rooms is scheduled through the Senior Center, which has always taken an active role in the facility.

The history of the Kingston Community Center includes a role in the creation of the Kingston Community News. Originally a newsletter for the center, the Kingston Community News was privately published, then addressed and mailed by center volunteers to raise funds.

A community center at the Village Green

The future Village Green may well be the most significant change to the face of Kingston since the marina more than 40 years ago. In December 2005, Kitsap County purchased 3.6 acres off West Kingston Road from the Navy for $1.75 million. Though funding options are still being explored and groundbreaking may be years away, one thing is certain: a new community center will be a centerpiece of the park.

According to Dave Hildebrand of the Kingston Community Center Foundation, the group has a general building schematic for the new center. Plans include rooms for meetings, a senior center, library, a large multi-use recreation room, and Kingston Historical Society headquarters. There will also be plenty of parking. The new center will fulfill another important requirement:

“We want a building where people can have a meeting and hear each other when the ferry unloads,” observed Jack Minert.

Foundation president Bobbie Moore further explained the motivation behind a new community center.

“At first we thought the old (community center) building might have to come down due to traffic rerouting by the state. Then I-695 passed, reducing the car tab tax, and the state pulled back on enhancements to ferry approaches,” Moore said. “It put the existing center into a holding pattern. Then in 2005 it became apparent the Navy property would be available, and Chris Endresen asked us to get community input on a new community center as part of the Village Green.”

The foundation spent the last year gathering public opinion on the Kingston Village Green Master Plan. This fall, Moore said, the foundation and the county may co-host a public open house at the Village Green property.

“Kingston deserves and wants and needs an accessible community center,” said Moore. “But it still won’t happen in our lifetime unless the whole community gets behind it.”