LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Today the City of Lexington turned over the keys of the historic Zirl Palmer building to the United Way of the Bluegrass. Councilman James Brown represented the first district for seven years when talks of how this building should be transformed began.
He says, "You know, this is one of the projects that I worked on for a few years and to see it come to a successful conclusion is just gratifying in so many ways."
In the 1960s, this building was home to Lexington’s only Black-owned pharmacy. Its owner, Dr. Zirl Palmer, was the third Black pharmacist to practice in the city and was the first African American to own a Rexall franchise in the United States.
At the presentation, the president and CEO of the United Way of the Bluegrass, Timothy Johnson, says, "I can’t think of a better time to receive the keys to this historic landmark, than in the midst of Black History Month."
At the heart of his work, Dr. Palmer focused on philanthropy. There were several plans for this building that has sat empty for years. Now, it will become a Marksbury family WayPoint Center.
Johnson says, "The WayPoint Center is a collective impact model... which means helping people row their oars in the same direction. Getting together a lot of non-profits, the community stakeholders, businesses, to agree on what's the goal, what's the destination, and we all work towards it."
The building has meant a lot to the community over decades and now, in a full circle moment, the way this building has aided in helping the community before, it will have the opportunity to do so again.
"Knocking this building down was one of the options on the table and the community spoke out loud and said, 'we don't want that, we want something that is for us, that will benefit us.' So, having a center in place is actually letting the community know they were heard, their voices were heard and more than that, this is here to help empower them,” says Johnson.
This center will serve as a resource in the community by aiding in job searches, financial literacy, and more. Councilmember Brown says projects like this should create support in communities.
"So when you work on projects in a neighborhood with the history and with the demographics that the east end has, you have to be intentional and you have to be focused on making sure that you don't displace folks, and that you're creating a neighborhood resource and opportunities for the folks that live here,” says Brown.
He says that while this is a big step forward, there is still more work to be done in the east end of the city.
