50 Years of the Pat White Center: The Story Behind the Name

Photo of the original barn where the Ben Lomond Community Center was built and eventually renamed the Pat White Center at Ben Lomond

You might know it as the Pat White Center, but once upon a time it was called the “the barn” or Ben Lomond Community Center, until 2015 when the building was renamed after a woman named Pat White. Who is Pat White you might ask? Keep reading to find out.

Born and raised in Vienna, Virginia, Patricia (Pat) White came to Prince William County in 1963. She was a founding member of St. Thomas United Methodist Church and the Westgate Women’s Club. A public relations professional, Pat served on numerous civic committees and boards, including the American Red Cross; Voluntary Action Center; Community Corrections Resource Board; the Electoral Board; and the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

It was her work with the Westgate Women’s Club that brought her into the public eye, along with what she felt most proud of—the “Save the Barn” grassroots campaign to renovate the dilapidated barn structure on the Ben Lomond historical site, into a community center where “the young and old” could gather for events and classes could be taught. 

Once an integral part of the 1837 Ben Lomond Manor Estate, “the barn” managed to survive through the chaos of Civil War, the rebuilding of a war-torn county and the eventual exchange of ownership. The barn burned to the ground twice, only to rise once again in the very spot it had begun.

During the early years of the 1970s, land developers anxious to expand housing into the western parts of the county, threatened to level the barn. Mrs. White and the ladies of the Westgate Women’s Club, banded together with area residents to launch a campaign to “Save the Barn.” The campaign was marked a success when a bond referendum, supported by the Gainesville Sanitary District, was passed by the citizens to provide the funding to restore the historical building for use as a community gathering place. Unfortunately, the findings of a feasibility study proved renovating the old barn was simply too costly. The architects hired for the project designed a new building to closely resemble the much-loved historical barn.

In 1983, Ben Lomond Community Center was purchased by the Park Authority, and subsequently transferred back to Prince William County in 2012. 

To honor Mrs. White’s legacy of community volunteerism and her efforts to “Save the Barn,” the center was renamed the Pat White Center at Ben Lomond in 2015.

Today, the community center continues the tradition of community support by providing programming and specialty classes for all ages for the residents of Prince William County and surrounding counties. 

The Pat White Center at Ben Lomond is proud to celebrate its 50th anniversary this year. To commemorate the milestone anniversary, the Pat White Center will be hosting a free, fall festival celebration for the community on Saturday, October 19. The event will feature fun activities for all ages, including food trucks, STEAM projects, musical instrument demonstrations, giveaways and more. We hope you can join us!