The M.S. Doss Youth Center is a Seminole recreation landmark

At 200 N.W. 5th Street in Seminole stands a building that's been catching kids after the last bell since 1961. The M.S. Doss Youth Center went up as a tribute to the late Mr. and Mrs. M.S. Doss and their soft spot for young people, paid for through the foundation that still carries their name. It grew the way a town's affection grows, enlarged in 1975, an outdoor swimming pool added in 1984, two racquetball courts in 1989.

What makes it more than a rec building is who it's for and what it costs. Membership runs grades 6 through 12, dues are a nominal $10 a year, and better than 600 kids are signed up — a real chunk of the town's teenagers, in one supervised place run by a director and a board of local businesspeople rather than left to fend for an afternoon.

In a county this size, that's no small thing. The pool, the courts, the open hours after school: for a lot of Seminole kids, the Doss Center is simply where you go, and has been for their parents too. If your family's new in town, the front-desk line is (432) 758-2779.