A multimillion-dollar community center serving one of Ogden's most diverse neighborhoods in the older core of the city has been rebuilt and officially reopens on Friday.
After plenty of community debate and public pressure, the original Marshall White Center closed in mid-2023 so the city-owned structure could be demolished and rebuilt. Nearly two years later, the $37 million replacement facility at 222 28th Street is complete, and Mayor Ben Nadolski sees it reclaiming its role as a community hub.
"This has always been an anchor to this neighborhood in particular, and it remains that way," Nadolski said at a ceremony Thursday to unveil the facility and let the public have a peek inside. The facility serves as a legacy to building namesake Marshall White, an Ogden police officer killed in 1963, while its location is meant as an investment in the lower- to moderate-income area where it sits and "the people that live in this neighborhood."
The future of the facility, first completed in 1968, became focus of intense debate in 2018 after city officials closed the large indoor swimming pool it housed due to cracks. A public debate over the willingness of the city to invest in the older neighborhood ensued, leading to public pressure to rebuild the aging structure and the formal decision in 2023 to move forward with reconstruction.
Indeed, the facility has symbolic importance, underscoring what many believe to be the importance of investing in Ogden's traditionally underserved neighborhoods and outreach to historically marginalized city residents. Marshall White, who was Black, led the Ogden branch of the NAACP before his death and advocated for the city's Black community.
Among the speakers at Thursday's ceremony was Ron White, Marshall White's son. Now living in Salt Lake City, he encouraged the public to use the new facility. The complex measures 68,000 square feet, a big jump over the 38,000-square-foot facility it replaces, and contains a pool, elevated track, gym, basketball courts, an indoor soccer field and classrooms.
"Use this place to build strength, build muscle, build endurance because you're going to need it. Life is hard. You'll need the strength to carry you through," Ron White said. Two of Marshall White's other kids, Marcella White and Sammie Ellis, also attended.
Marcia White, the chairwoman of the Ogden City Council but no relation to Marshall White, also addressed Thursday's gathering. She noted the significance of naming the facility in the turbulent 1960s, marked by the civil rights movement, after a Black man.
"Naming this center after a Black public servant in Ogden, in Utah, in our country at that time...was bold and really, really meaningful. And you need to be proud of Ogden for it," she said.
Marshall White, an Ogden Police Department detective, was shot by a burglary suspect in the line of duty on Oct. 15, 1963, and died three days later. Artwork memorializing the man adorns the exterior entryway of the new Marshall White Center.