More Than a Building: The Power of the Beaverton Activity Center

Need a spot for K-Pop karaoke or a competitive game of pickleball? Looking for a junk journaling circle, a euchre tournament, or a round of Jeopardy-style bird trivia?

It might seem unlikely to find this eclectic mix in a rural town of just 1,200 people. Yet, in Gladwin County, the Beaverton Activity Center has defied the odds, transforming a historic junior high school into a thriving hub powered almost entirely by volunteers.

And it’s been going strong for more than a decade. 

A Legacy of Innovation

Beaverton has a long history of forward-thinking. In 1929, former superintendent Dr. James MacConnell launched one of the nation’s first school consolidation programs here. 

By 1935, in the depths of the Great Depression, local voters passed a bond to build a state-of-the-art high school.

Decades later, when students moved to newer facilities, the community refused to let the historic brick building crumble. A nonprofit group formed to reimagine the space, fueled by a collaborative challenge grant from the Dow,  Strosacker, and Gerstacker foundations. 

When the Beaverton Activity Center held its grand opening in 2015, more than 1,000 people showed up to celebrate. A year later, the Michigan Municipal League honored the facility with its “Strength in Structure” Community Excellence Award.

The “Anchor” Strategy

Community activity centers are common in many rural towns. Small towns frequently use “multi-purpose” models where services are clustered in shared spaces like schools or libraries, according to ScienceDirect is a leading digital platform for searching and accessing peer-reviewed scientific, technical, and medical research.

In rural areas, these activity or community centers often serve as the primary hub for services that residents would otherwise have to commute distances to access, such as fitness equipment or health classes.

The Beaverton Activity Center succeeds through a “multi-purpose” model. By hosting permanent “anchor” tenants, the center ensures a daily influx of visitors and essential services:

The Gladwin County Library (Beaverton Branch): A core resource for local readers and researchers.

MyMichigan Health: Offering physical therapy and the “BFit” fitness center, which features medical-grade equipment.

MidMichigan Community Action Preschool: Serving children ages 3 to 5 through Head Start and Great Start Readiness Programs.

Powered by Volunteers

Except for a single paid staff member, the Beaverton Activity Center  is a labor of love.

“In the early days, we saw about 10,000 volunteer hours per year,” says Joan Cashin, who is president of volunteers and a former school superintendent. “Now that we’re in consistent operation, we still clock about 5,500 hours annually.”

That volunteer spirit allows the Beaverton Activity Center to stay agile. 

“Someone comes in and says, ‘I want to offer yoga classes,'” Cashin explains. “We say: ‘We’ve got the space. Let’s work together.'”

This “can-do” attitude keeps the calendar packed. Mondays feature morning quilters; Saturdays are for Dungeons & Dragons. In between, the gym hums with other activities, including pickleball, which is offered four days a week.  The activities are organized and run by a cadre of volunteers who clock thousands of free hours every year.

Memories Meeting the Future

For many residents, the building is a bridge to the past.

“People are already connected to this building,” Cashin notes. “They walk into the gym and remember the exact game where they made a winning basket.”