Dr. Dale Chapman and his wife, Dr. Linda Chapman

Casey Weeks nominated the Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities for the Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Award. A total of eight projects throughout Illinois were chosen to win this award along with $1,000. The Mannie Jackson Center was presented with the most prestigious award the Project of the Year for Leadership. I believe the most fundamental reason it was given the highest possible honor was for its transformation of taking a scarred past of segregation and finding a way of using it to bring the community together in the future.

The award itself pictured above being held by Dr. Chapman, is a detail of the facade of the Chicago Stock Exchange building built in 1894 and designed by Adler & Sullivan (Louis Sullivan). The award is a diorama complete with furniture, working lights and clock, and will have a recording of the acceptance speech from the award ceremony. The front facade of the award is magnetic which can be removed to see inside. The Chicago Stock Exchange building facade was chosen for this award because Mr. Driehaus made his fortune doing trades and investments there.

MANNIE JACKSON CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES

EDWARDSVILLE, IL

The Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities in Edwardsville is a recipient of a 2018 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Project of the Year Award for Leadership. Located at 1210 N. Main St. in Edwardsville, the project transformed the former Lincoln School, a historically African American school built in 1912, into a vibrant meeting space and cultural center in the Edwardsville community. Support for the extensive renovations at the school required a combination of fundraising, corporate giving and, most importantly, a unique public/private partnership that brought Mannie Jackson, a successful local businessman, and Lewis and Clark Community College together. Jackson, a former Lincoln School student, purchased the dilapidated building and donated it to the Lewis & Clark Community College for use as a community gathering space that would host lectures, readings, dialogues, public service opportunities and other humanities programming. The Center’s design focused on providing useable space to the community in the form of the 2,500-square-foot ballroom that accommodates up to 140 guests and the 1,250-square-foot conference room that can host up to 60 guests.

The Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities project has provided sustained cultural growth in the region, actively worked to build understanding between communities and served as a catalyst for further development in an area that has long been neglected.

PROJECT PRINCIPALS

Lewis & Clark Community College

Mannie Jackson Foundation

Lincoln School Alumni Foundation

Edwardsville Historic Preservation Commission

Click here to read the Lewis & Clark Community College press release.

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