Built in 1940, this center was originally part of a recreation complex that served the large number of workers in the Kaiser shipyards during World War II. When the war was over, the pre-fabricated building was dismantled and moved on flatbed trucks, piece by piece, to its current location. This new home was two blocks from the center of downtown St Johns, at the edge of a large cherry and prune orchard. Some of the old fruit trees still stand on the center's grounds. In 1998-99, a number of improvements were made using funds from 1994 General Obligation Bond.