by Thomas Breen
Hill neighbors turn out in force to welcome the newly revived community center.
Dozens of city officials and Hill neighbors gathered on Carlisle Street Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the grand opening of the Trowbridge Recreation Center — marking the former Barbell Club’s return to life as an intergenerational drop-in center and resource hub.
Mayor Justin Elicker and Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez anchored the speaking lineup outside of 160 Carlisle St. alongside City Engineer Giovanni Zinn, Youth and Recreation Department Director Gwendolyn Busch Williams, Elderly Services Department Director Tomi Veale, Elm City Communities President Shenae Draughn, and Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers.
“For decades and decades and decades,” this building was open to the community, Elicker said — first as a school and then as the home to Hill Cooperative Youth Services, also known as the Barbell Club.
The building — first opened in 1925 — was shuttered in 2008 and subsequently fell into disrepair. “To say this was a fixer-upper is an understatement. It was a mess,” Elicker said. “Today, we can honor the legacy of the people who activated this building” by bringing it back to life.
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