City of Tucson issued the following announcement on Feb. 17.
The area surrounding what is now known as the Fred Archer Center, 1665 S. La Cholla Blvd., was first settled in the 1930s and 1940s by African American homesteaders. It was a dream of many of the "A" Mountain residents to have a center that would offer the community full recreational facilities. The goal of the neighborhood center was to provide social and recreational experiences to the public, primarily residents of the general area. The "A" Mountain Neighborhood Center was completed in 1978. In 1988, the Tucson City Council voted to rename it after its first director, Fred Archer.
He had been involved with the construction of the center and he was its director until his death in 1988 at the age of 67. Archer was an active member of the Tucson community, serving on Tucson’s Model Cities policy board and as a member of the Citizens Participation Council and the Affirmative Action Task Force. Fred Archer was also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, retiring in 1974 as a chief master sergeant.
Original source can be found here.
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