Ella Frost was director of the Dunbar Center. She also was a Girl Scout leader, a West End Elementary School PTA leader and in other charitable capacities in the 1960s. Butler Eagle File Photo

While February is Black History Month across the United States, Butler has its own rich history of the struggles and achievements of longtime families of color living and working in a predominantly white community.

The Butler Eagle digital archives turn up the names and faces of Butler’s Black residents of yore who were the movers and shakers of their time.

An article in the Feb. 13, 1936, edition of the Eagle detailed a meeting at the home of Mrs. William Hill of Eyth Street, where interested parties discussed a venue for planning activities for Black residents of Butler.

That grassroots meeting during the Great Depression served as the beginnings of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Community Center, which was at the corner of Fairground Hill Road and Hansen Avenue where the Speedway gas station now does business.

Many potential clubs and activities were discussed at the initial meeting, including singing, drama, arts and crafts, study groups, dancing, culture, education, swimming and skating.

Temporary committees were formed, and those who chaired them revealed some of the early names of Black adults in Butler.