Cherokee Nation Dedicated Historic Building To New Boys & Girls Club

On January 12, the Cherokee Nation celebrated the renovation of the historic Attucks School in Vinita.

The building will now be used by the Vinita Boys and Girls Club.

It's the first time for a school to transfer property to a tribe, under a recent Oklahoma law.

"We had some great memories in this school," said Charles Kirkendoll.

Charles Kirkendoll is an 83-year-old graduate of Attucks School. He described his 12 years there as his safe space.

"This is the only place that we had to come back in those days. This is the only place we had to socialize," said Kirkendoll.

He's the oldest-living member of the last graduating class before integration. He said after that, the building was never the same.

"I thought this school would be tore down," said Kirkendoll.

Kirkendoll campaigned to get the location added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

However, the building sat empty, until the Cherokee Nation invested $3.5 million to renovate the building, which the Vinita Boys and Girls Club will now call home.

The facility will serve more than 200 students.

"This will be a place for young people in this community to grow and to learn and Cherokee Nation always gets behind that," Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief, Chuck Hoskin Jr., said Attucks alumni won't have to worry about their history being erased.

"It should always be occupied in a way that honors the history and the legacy of the people that went here before," said Hoskin, "This is the best thing that ever happened to this community."