BY KARLANA JUNE
NNB Student Reporter
The modest structure at 1935 Ninth Ave. S was the first local council house in America.
ST. PETERSBURG – For half a century, Fannye Ayer Ponder was a stalwart of civic activism, education and high society in St. Petersburg’s black community.
She and her physician husband, who came to the city in 1925, lived in a regal, seven-bedroom home with a manicured lawn and cherry hedge, antique furniture and carved mantelpieces.
While he led the drive to build a hospital to serve black patients, she taught school at all-black Gibbs High School, attended club meetings around the country and, as a protégé of educator Mary McLeod Bethune, had tea at the White House with Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman and Mamie Eisenhower.
In 1942, she founded a St. Petersburg chapter of the National Council of Negro Women, which Bethune had started seven years earlier to unify black women around the country. A few years later, the chapter bought a lot at 1935 Ninth Ave. S and moved a nearby building onto the site. Dedicated in 1947, it was the first council house in America.
“It was the place where women of distinction came to talk about things for the community, to broaden the horizon of the community, to be more visible in the community,” said Allene Gammage-Ahmed, who grew up in the neighborhood and now serves as a chapter officer.
Allene Gammage-Ahmed (right), with chapter officer Thelma Bruce, grew up nearby and now serves as a chapter officer.
“I remember watching the ladies gravitate to this particular property, with hats and furs and beautiful make-up,” said Gammage-Ahmed. “I’ll tell you what; I sure wanted to be like them.”
The modest structure, which still serves as the chapter house, is about to get a $100,000 renovation, thanks to the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott.
The state appropriation will pay for new windows and flooring, a new roof and kitchen, and updated wiring. The house will be painted inside and out, and it will be brought into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“A lot of historical sites in the local African-American community are gone. This is one that has been well-preserved and I think is a good, befitting tribute to Mrs. Ponder and the community,” said Watson Haynes II, president and CEO of the Pinellas County Urban League.
Planning to renovate the historical site began months ago, when the chapter put together a team to tackle the project if the state money was approved. Chapter president Angela Rouson said the team is working with the city’s historic preservation staff and Wannemacher Jensen Architects Inc., which specialize in historical preservations.
“To be able to envision having the same impact on my community that she (Ponder) did …. It gives me chills,” Rouson said. “Advocacy is a huge part of our organization’s history.”
The national council’s St. Petersburg chapter, which has 50 members and 12 youth members, is active in the community, just as it was in the early years under Ponder.
It is the principal sponsor of the annual Dr. MLK Breakfast at the Coliseum. It has a summer reading program for young people, an annual food drive, a wellness expo and health fair, and a “ladies night out” event to benefit working women in Tampa Bay.
The New Girls’ Network, the chapter’s group for young women between 11 and 18, volunteers throughout the community.
“We have had some girls come through here, graduate from high school, go on to college, become professionals, and they are back home now, waiting to do something with the girls now, to show them, ‘Hey, we made it and so can you,’” said Gammage-Ahmed.
When the Ponders moved from Ocala to St. Petersburg in 1925, it was a time of rigid segregation and discrimination in St. Petersburg. The city’s black residents could not live outside certain neighborhoods, and they were barred from the white community’s schools, restaurants, night spots and swimming pools.
They also had few places for their meetings and social gatherings.
Fannye Ayer Ponder founded the local chapter in 1942
Ponder, a graduate of Florida A&M University, was a civic and social leader in the black community. She sold thousands of war bonds during World War II, raised money for the American Cancer Society and a school for troubled girls, advised state officials about programs for disadvantaged youth, served the local Republican Party, and helped establish two community buildings, including the chapter house on Ninth Avenue S.
In the years before her death in 1982, the walls of one room in her home were filled with community service awards and certificates of appreciation.
The chapter house, which is named in her honor, was designated a city historic site in 1991.
At one time, the Pinellas Opportunity Council had an office there. The Gibbs High School chorus, the NAACP and other groups have met at the house, which was called the Southside Community Center at one point. It sits on a site of a tennis court where the first West Coast tournament for African-Americans was held. The state-funded improvements to the house will make it more accessible to the community again, chapter members say.
Ponder was proud of the house.
“It’s just wonderful,” she once said. “That building has been used by many people. We’ve had marriages, birthday parties for the young…and many U.S. congressmen and local mayors have introduced themselves to the black community there. That council house has served a great purpose in the community.”