About

DEDICATION

The Watsontown Lions Club Youth Center has never been owned by the Lions. However, that club provided all of the maintenance, repairs, pavilions, furnishings, and administration for more than 60 years, and it is to the Lions that we owe a debt of gratitude.

JUST INTERESTED IN RENTING THE FACILITIES?

Here are the steps involved in renting the Lions Club Youth Center.

ABOUT THE YOUTH CENTER FACILITIES

The Youth Center is a 9.7-acre plot located primarily on the north side of White Deer Creek and contains about 250 feet of creek frontage, accessible down a steep bank. There is a 2-acre open field and two picnic pavilions. The Walize pavilion has electric lights and 8 picnic tables. The Otha Folk pavilion is 20′ by 24′ and is attached to the Center building. It has electric lights and 8 picnic tables.

The Youth Center building is a single-story 24′ x 60′ concrete block structure with a propane furnace, electricity, two small bathrooms, a large open meeting area with 8 6-foot tables and 58 metal folding chairs. The meeting area can comfortably seat 65 people.

The kitchen includes hot and cold running water (metered water from PA American Water Company), two refrigerators, ample counter space, and an electric stove and oven.

There is parking for up to 30 cars north of the building and along the edge of the sports field.

Between the East Pavilion and the creek is a large fire pit area ringed by concrete blocks. There is a small play area that includes horseshoe pits (bring your own shoes).

HISTORY OF THE YOUTH CENTER

The Youth Center’s origins began in the 1940s as an effort to build a memorial to Watsontown residents killed in World War I. About $12,000 was raised to build a community center building using WPA labor. This was shelved due to World War II, and the money was returned to donors.

After the war, a corporation, Watsontown Memorial Community Center, Inc. was formed on May 11, 1945, to raise money and hold donations until a memorial was built. One of its first actions was to buy nearly 10 acres on the White Deer Pike on Sept. 23, 1946.

A community center in the borough of Watsontown was discussed in 1956 by the WMCC committee. The plan was to add to the existing Watsontown Borough Building, and architect Malcolm Clinger was hired to produce drawings. However, the location had to be changed, and Clinger drew up plans for a building to be built at the corner of Ash and Seventh Streets. It included a hall that could seat up to 800 people and a kitchen that could serve up to 500 people. The cost of the building was estimated at $25,000 to $27,000 without furnishings.

This plan was daring enough that the WMCC committee called a town meeting held on July 10, 1958, in the Watson Theatre. Anyone could vote on the project by becoming a member of WMCC for $1. However, at the meeting, the 62 people who voted chose instead to purchase the Watson Theatre as a community center. About $43,000 would need to be raised by the WMCC to purchase the theatre.

Instead, August of 1959 found the WMCC holding a meeting to consider buying and remodeling the old Eighth Street School Building, which had been vacated when Warrior Run High School was built. Two months before, the Watsontown Lions Club had committed $2,500 to the remodeling project if it should go forward, but it was also supporting “development of the Boy Scouting area along White Deer Pike.”

For quite a few years before a building was begun on the White Deer Pike site, Boy Scout Troop 610 and Explorer Post 2610 of Watsontown had used the site for camping. On Aug. 31, 1959, the two unit committees held a joint meeting to plan the construction of the Youth Center. Appointed to chair the building committee were Ray Newton, Franklin Fisher, John Brown, and Harold Strassner. “The building will be for the use of the Explorers, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Cubs, and for the use of the community in general,” the Daily Item reported.

In October, 1959, it was reported that the Youth Center was under construction on the White Deer Pike, sponsored by the Watsontown Lions Club, and a few weeks later, the Lions Club donated $2,500 to the project (about $25,000 in 2023 dollars).

By 1976, the Watsontown Lions Club was meeting frequently at the facility and was starting to raise funds to add indoor bathrooms.

The Watsontown Lions Club formalized its relationship with the Watsontown Memorial Community Center in 1986 by signing an agreement to care for and administer the Youth Center. The club planned at that time to add another pavilion and a barbecue pit. The Otha Folk pavilion, an extension of the original building, was dedicated in 1994 and named for Mr. Folk, a past president of the Watsontown Lions Club and member of the Youth Center committee, who had died earlier that year. On May 14, 2023, the freestanding pavilion was named the David C. Walize pavilion in memory of Dave, who as a Watsontown Lion helped to maintain the building for 41 years. He drained the plumbing every fall and turned the water back on every spring, he installed and maintained the furnace, he put a new roof on the Folk Pavilion, and he served in countless other supporting roles.

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021 caused the Youth Center to be closed for two full rental seasons, and the Lions Club couldn’t keep up with the recurring expenses of insurance, utilities, repairs, and mowing. The Watsontown Memorial Community Center committee was reconvened to jump start a new era of using digital tools to help spread the word about the Youth Center so that rental fees would once again cover the expenses.

Youth from the Warrior Run National Honor Society and Watsontown Scouts Troop 610 pitch in to maintain the property. Buck Plumbing and Heating donated their labor to turn on the water for the 2023 season, Susquehanna Fire Protection maintains our fire extinguishers, and Ficks Hardware donated a dusk-to-dawn light. Thank you for your support!