About us
Our Mission
Provide an affordable, safe and accessible learning, recreation and community center for all ages and abilities.
Our Vision
To enhance the community's physical, social and emotional well-being.
Our Values
Inclusiveness: We foster an environment that welcomes each individual, no matter their perspective, interests, talents or identity.
Healthy Lifestyles: We enhance individuals’ wellbeing by offering opportunities for positive behaviors toward lifelong healthy living.
Affordable: We aim to keep all programs and amenities at a cost where every individual has an opportunity to participate.
Learning: We offer growth opportunities for the betterment of an individual’s work and/or personal life.
Fun: We encourage a culture of play that is enjoyable, entertaining, social and an overall gratifying experience.
Augusta Hills Learning, Recreation and Community Center will help make Albion healthier,
more connected and create economic potential.
The project began with one couple's vision for a healthier community.
While searching for a place to walk indoors during winter, Albion-area residents Bill and Marilyn Emmert realized that the closest facility was a 20-minute drive away. As they talked with friends and neighbors and conducted surveys, a vision emerged to serve the community with a facility that promises health, learning and inclusiveness in Albion. The community embraced the vision and six acres of property and two buildings were donated for the Center.
Long before the August Hills Learning, Recreation and Community Center became a realty, the site served as a place to
come together and form a community. Augusta Hills Golf Course was founded and operated here from the 1970's until 2008. At its height, the course was bustling with avid golfers from near and far, with a variety of leagues, competitions, and charitable events held here. In 2012, the property was sold and allowed to return to a more natural state, as former greens and fairways became farm fields once again. For a time, the Lodge and outbuildings were used by private owners to care for and enjoy horses, too.
This area was originally platted by William H. Holmes, George Whittaker, Thomas Gale and R.H. Colcrick in 1837 and called "Augusta". The new community was intended to eventually include a "public square" with a street surrounding it to be 80 feet wide. Other streets were envisioned to be 60 feet wide. Four lots were donated for schools and churches to follow.
Noble County's first courthouse was completed in Augusta in 1840. It was a frame building, the pride of the people, and better than any other courthouse in the area. A jail was also constructed here.
Augusta eventually grew to include two hotels, several lawyers, several stores, mills and factories. Augusta would probably still be the center of government in Noble County had the courthouse not burned in 1843. Once it did, the town became deserted. By 1850 the entire plat was reverted to farm land and would remain that way for decades.
Augusta Hills Learning, Recreation and Community Center held a soft opening on April 1, 2021 and celebrated the grand opening with an Open House on May 1, 2021. The history of Augusta makes it that much sweeter to know people will have a reason and place to gather once again, to form a "community"!
