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.

Hill, Mary Massey, Mrs. John Daugherty, Gwendolyn Schuler, Brooks Beagle and Henry Banks were chosen to head various activity committees at the meeting.

An Eagle edition dated May 5, 1970, contained an article celebrating the Dunbar Center’s 34th birthday.

At the helm of the thriving center was Ella Frost, whose name appears in dozens of articles over the years for her leadership at the Dunbar Center, as a Girl Scout leader, as the West End Elementary School PTA leader and in other charitable capacities.

Another standout in Butler’s Black community was Richard “Dickie” White, who graduated from Butler High School in 1963.

An article and photo in the April 22, 1965, Butler Eagle announced that White earned a trophy for physical fitness while at Army basic training in Fort Bragg, S.C.

White beat out 1,500 men to earn the award.

During his high school years, White lettered in football in his junior and senior years as a standout running back for the Golden Tornado.

White served as a paratrooper in Panama upon leaving Fort Bragg and worked as a city firefighter until his retirement in the 1980s.

A notable leader in Butler who was remembered for his penchant for helping others was George Potter, who founded the now-defunct county Human Relations Association and served as its director for 30 years.

Potter’s reasoning for initiating an official human relations group in the county was to fight discrimination and poverty, according to an article on the Eagle’s front page in March 2001 upon the occasion of Potter’s death at age 80.

Potter was known to give food to the needy and initiated a food bank at the African Methodist Episcopal Church, then on Shore Street.

Potter was remembered in the article as generous and caring by many of his friends and associates.

Elmer Massey is another name known by many in Butler’s past.

During his youth, he enjoyed making the five-minute walk from his West Wayne Street home to Pullman Park, where he saw players named Gehrig, Ruth and DiMaggio swing wooden bats.

As a teen, he played third base for the Shiloh Baptist Church and quickly became a team star.

Massey was a track and football standout at Butler High School before his graduation in 1940.

He attended Lincoln University of Pennsylvania until he was drafted into the Army in 1942.

Following his service in World War II, Massey returned to his hometown and became the first player/manager of the Butler Cubs.

Massey went on to play for the Pittsburgh Crawfords in the Negro National Baseball League, and served as a local umpire from 1968 until he was well into his 70s.

In the early and mid-20th century, many of Butler’s Black families owned and rented homes in the area west of Main Street.

Two houses of worship, just 10 or 12 blocks apart, not only allowed for Sunday services, but for many other wholesome activities for young and old alike.

Shiloh Baptist Church at 111 Hayes Ave. celebrated its 100th anniversary in September 2016.

Due to faltering membership, the church closed down a few years later and was subsequently damaged by leaks and flooding of Sullivan Run, which borders the church property.

The property, which had no connected utilities, was condemned by the city and scheduled for demolition in 2021.

Initially Slippery Rock University officials expressed interest in possibly moving the church to campus to serve a second life as a spiritual center, but those plans have fallen through.

Discussions among other officials are now underway to save the historic church.

The second church in Butler where many Black families gathered to worship was the Arnette African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The church, on Shore Street, was directly across from what is now the Butler Farmers Market, but was torn down in 2006.

In addition to the food bank set up at the church by Potter, many activities were held for the members and the public as well.