A newly constructed neighborhood center in Southernside will be named after the late Mary Duckett. Greenville City Council unanimously approved the honor at its formal meeting on Monday, March 23.
Known affectionately as the “mayor of Southernside,” Duckett died in November after decades of activism for education, environmental justice, and public safety. The Mary Frances Duckett Community Development Center will open in April.
“Ms. Mary was a vocal advocate for a new center in Southernside,” said Community Development Manager Monique Mattison. “She wanted 813 Hampton Avenue to remain the true heart of the neighborhood. She loved community service, and she was a true community developer.”
The new $1.1 million center will offer meeting space, multipurpose rooms and a kitchen for community gatherings and other neighborhood programming, including job training, homeownership workshops and physical and mental health services.
Greenville’s CommUnity Empowerment Team (CET), which Duckett helped create, wrote a letter of support asking for City Council action. The CET represents special-emphasis neighborhood and faith-based leaders who support the City’s Community Development Division.
Duckett made a lasting impact on her local community, including playing key roles in the opening of A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School of Engineering and the creation of Unity Park.
She attended the dedication of the Thomas and Vivian A. Wong Honor Tower on Veterans Day last year, just a week before her death, and reflected on the neighborhood’s transformation.
“This has been a dream,” she said. “Southernside. West Greenville. Just look at us now!”
“She always wanted her beloved Southernside to have a voice and recognition in our city,” Mayor Knox White said last year. “Mary felt to her core that all people have worth and all voices count. That message will stand as her legacy.”
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