Beloit historic preservation initiative:
The Fairbanks Flats: Beloit's African American Mecca

Courtesy of the Janesville Gazette

From left to right in photo Wanda Sloan from Beloit Wisconsin is accompanied by other Mid West Region preservationists
who attended the National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference from September 28 - October 3, 2004 in Louisville Kentucky. Also included in the photo are: Jenne Labin National Trust field representative for Wisconsin, Paula Robinson, Illinois National Trust Advisor, Valerie Leonard Diversity Scholar from North Lawndale and Patricia Peters Diversity
Scholar from South Shore.

Wanda Sloan didn’t know much about saving old buildings until the city of Beloit threatened to destroy her childhood home.

Then she and others organized to stop the demolition of four concrete-block apartments known as Fairbanks Flats on the city’s West Side.

In the process, Wanda discovered a passion for preservation.

She also committed to saving the plain, flat-roofed buildings because of their importance in Rock County history.

The Flats on Shore Drive are the only known community housing built exclusively for black workers in Wisconsin.

During World War I, many southern black families seeking jobs in factories moved north.

Fairbanks Morse was Beloit’s largest employer and needed homes for the workers, so it built four identical buildings with six, two-story units in 1917.

Over the years, hundreds of black families lived in the segregated housing, which is now unoccupied.

Wanda’s father grew up in the Flats, and so did Wanda from 1947 until 1965.

“It was a community of working-class people,” she recalls. “Everyone knew everyone. We all cared for each other.”

The city bought the buildings in 1999 and hired a consulting firm to look at possible uses.

The firm recommended demolition and developing the site into modern housing.

The city council endorsed the idea in November 2001, but people like Wanda stopped the process.

Since then, the city and citizens from the Shore Drive neighborhood have been studying, struggling and trying to reach consensus about what to do with the Flats.

City Council president Terry Monahan appointed Wanda to a 7-member committee, which is tackling the question.

“Wanda was always interested in the history of the Flats, so she was a natural fit for the group,” he explains. “She has a deep interest in the subject but is also realistic about what can occur.”

Wanda views the Flats as diamonds in the rough.

“Other neighborhoods that were primarily African-American are gone, lost to economic development,” she says. “The Flats are one of the last, if not the last, physical reminder of the men who came here to work very hard. Their story has to be told and preserved. It’s our birthright to claim and reclaim.”

A consultant will work with the group in its effort to find the best use for the buildings, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Assistant City Manager Steve Gregg says the Flats are relevant to everyone in Rock County.

“These structures have the same kind of history to tell as the Milton House or the Tallman House,” he says. “At the time they were built, Beloit was the biggest city in Rock County and the industrial engine. Fairbanks Morse helped put Rock County on the map.”

He calls the story of migration from the south to Beloit compelling and powerful.

“You can talk to people in Beloit who trace their families to the Flats and then to homes in the south,” Gregg says. “The story is still very much alive today.”

During the last five years, Wanda has done everything she can to tell everyone about the Flats.

She’s written grants to fund a Web site, organized historic bus tours and has worked on membership and fundraising for the Fairbanks Flats and Shore Drive Revitalization Committee.

“When you’re passionate about something, you find the time,” Wanda says.

The 58-year-old grandmother is diversity specialist at Blackhawk Technical College.

She is also a longtime community activist, who worked with a group in the 1970s and early 1980s to address racial inequities in the community.

In addition, Wanda has been involved in the Beloit Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for 30 years.

Recently, the National Trust for Historic Preservation honored her with a partial scholarship to attend the 2004 National Preservation Conference in Louisville.

“The conference opened up a treasure chest for me,” Wanda says. “It made me aware of enormous possibilities. Everyone shared such a passion for saving and restoring history—everyone from mayors to everyday ordinary people like myself.”

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For more information about the Fairbanks Flats and Shore Drive Revitalization Group, contact Chairman Hugo Henry, (608) 365-0914; Wanda Sloan, (608) 365-2111; or Emma Harrell, (608) 365-6600. Web site: www.fairbanksflats.com