Open house set at Mannie Jackson Center

A little more than a year after its ground breaking ceremony, the Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities is ready to open.

From 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, the public is invited to an open house at the facility, which is located at 1210 North Main St. in Edwardsville.

Visitors will be able to tour the facility and light refreshments will be served.

Jackson is an Edwardsville High School graduate who went on to achieve success with the Honeywell Corporation and as owner of the Harlem Globetrotters.

He purchased the old Lincoln School for $200,000 in 2012 and since helped Lewis and Clark Community College, which the center is a part of, raise more than $2 million for its renovation.

Jackson went to elementary school in the building when segregation was the order of the day.

Now, he's looking to continue efforts to move the cultural ball rolling forward and the building on North Main Street will do just that.

"The formation of this Center will result in programs that give people a better understanding of societal differences and how we should embrace those differences," Jackson said in a press release. "Without that understanding, people throughout the world will continue to have conflicts with other cultures."

In addition, the Center will host speakers, youth programming and educational activities including those involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Dr. Ed Hightower, former superintendent of the Edwardsville District 7 School System, is serving as the Executive Director of the Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities Foundation.

He views the Center as a start to making relationships more positive among people.

"The Mannie Jackson Center for Humanities will serve as a ground for discussions and dialogue about respect, dignity, understanding and forgiveness, with the goal of improving and changing relationships," Hightower said in a press release. "Young people will be provided with a range of opportunities to engage in activities that promote tolerance, respect, dignity and self-worth."

In a press release issued Friday, plans for a 1,200-seat conference center, hotel, parking garage and STEM Center were announced and Hightower said all could be operational by 2017.

Lewis and Clark currently holds an option on the property where Rusty’s sits, across the street from the Center. A future phase of the project will include a parking structure on that property, as well as the preservation of the remnants of one of the oldest brick buildings in Madison County, according to the release.

The conference center and hotel are slated to be built along North Main Street just northwest of the current building, and an existing brick building along North Main will be utilized for the STEM Center, which will aim to incorporate math, science, technology and engineering into the humanities. Hightower said in the release that Director and President Mannie Jackson has already acquired those properties and has been a huge supporter of the project that bears his name. 

The project is expected to add $81 million in economic growth and 846 jobs to the area, Hightower said.

The Center recently announced that it will conduct its inaugural dinner on March 31 at SIUE's Meridian Ballroom.

General Colin Powell will be the featured speaker.

Tickets for the event are $200 per person and can be purchased atwww.mjchf.org/colinpowell.

The Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities is a division of Lewis and Clark Community College and is supported by the Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities Foundation, a 501©(3) organization.