HQB Photograph Collection

Founded in 1929, Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, Inc. was named for the venerable educator, elocutionist, and leader Hallie Quinn Brown; and has long been recognized as one of the foremost social service agencies in the state of Minnesota. HQB is a private, nonprofit social service agency serving the Summit University area of Saint Paul, Minnesota and the administrative agency of the Saint Paul Martin Luther King Multi-Service Center.

The organization was born as the result of the vision, commitment and tireless efforts of several community leaders in the 1920s. It was during this decade that the St. Paul Urban League was formed in an attempt to address the growing social problems facing African Americans in the capital city. Under the direction of Executive Secretary Elmer A. Carter, the St. Paul Urban League provided dynamic leadership at a time when it was greatly needed. Carter initiated the first formal step in addressing the needs of St. Paul’s Black community by conducting a survey of possible facilities where critical programs and services could be implemented.

In January 1929, an advisory committee met to formulate new plans for a community center to be housed at the former Central Avenue Branch of the Y.W.C.A. On April 1, 1929, Miss I. Myrtle Carden, the center’s first Executive Director, met with the Board of the St. Paul Urban League to discuss a name for the center. It was determined that the name for the community center should be chosen through an essay contest in which essayists profiled the life of an outstanding leader. Herbert Howell, a student at Hamline University, won the contest with his essay about the African American educator, elocutionist, women’s suffrage leader and author, Hallie Quinn Brown. Thus, Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, Inc. was born.

The Historic Rondo Community, where Hallie Q. Brown was first located, was a cornerstone of the largest Black neighborhood in St.Paul. Sadly, like many African American communities across the United States, Rondo was devastated by highway construction which cut the community in half. The original Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, located at the Masonic Hall at Aurora and Mackubin, was also forced to relocate in the 1970s. That division, combined with red lining and other racially unjust practices, forced dispersal of a vibrant Black community.

Fortunately, the re-established Hallie Q. Brown Community Center has maintained its trust and status in the community through its forced relocation to the Martin Luther King Center at 270 North Kent Street. Thus, elders and descendents of community members have trusted a unique set of historical artifacts and have participated in oral history projects to preserve and expand the reach of stories centering the African-American experience in Minnesota.

Although Hallie Q. Brown began as a settlement house for African Americans who were denied services from other agencies; the Center has long since welcomed all people to use its services in the Summit-University community. Hallie Q. Brown Community Center is a multi-service center which houses the nationally recognized Penumbra Theatre Company, an Early Learning Center, After School Program, Summer Day Camp, Food Shelf, Clothing Closet and Community Archives.