The beautiful brick building at the intersection of Ruggles and Sparrow began in 1890 as a primary school, became a boys and girls club in 1940, and a community center in the 1960s.
Shortly after the Smith Hill Center re-branded as Capitol City Community Center in the early 2000s, it closed its doors as a community center and has drifted along since, with several storefront churches trying to make a go of it. Without an active neighborhood-based community center Smith Hill is at an enormous disadvantage when it comes to identifying community concerns and advocating with the city and state levels for the resources it needs to address them.