Contact Information:
301 Grove Street Lynchburg, VA  24501
Phone: (434) 455-5858

Located in Midtown Lynchburg adjacent to historic Miller Park, Miller Center serves as the Lynchburg Parks and Recreation headquarters. The newly renovated Miller Center is also home to the Nature Zone environmental education center, a newly restored 186-seat theater, fully-equipped classroom space, and a brand-new dance/fitness studio.

Miller Center is a beautiful, modern space that preserves its original historic 1911 school building charm. Reconfigured administrative offices now house most of parks and recreation staff, making it easier to meet with staff members, rent spaces, or register for classes. Free public wi-fi is also available throughout the building.

Parking

Parking is available at both the Grove Street and Wadsworth Street entrances. New parking off of Grove Street is located within the park, with most of the visitor parking located behind the building off of Wadsworth Street. The parking lot is accessible from Grove Street by a one-way entrance at the end of the building, and both the center and handicap-accessible entrances are located on that level.

Classroom Space

Three renovated classroom spaces on the second and third floors include rooms suitable for education and recreation classes for citizens of all ages in the areas of art, dance, fitness, personal enrichment, and more. For the first time, the building includes a fully-equipped dance/fitness studio.

Theatre

The second-floor theater space that once served as the auditorium for the elementary school has been re-imagined. This beautiful new theater offers comfortable seating, state-of-the-art lighting and audio equipment, and additional back-stage space. The new Miller Center theater is a unique, small venue that will be used for public meetings, lectures, and theatrical and musical productions.

Renting Miller Center

Miller Center provides a 184 seat theater, multiple conference rooms/classrooms and meeting spaces for public and private use. When Parks and Recreation, City Departments or our partner organizations have not reserved these spaces, they are available for rental to the public. Learn more about renting Miller Center by visiting the link below. 

Visit the Miller Center Rental Page

History of Miller Center

The Miller Center was originally built as an elementary school known as Miller Park Elementary, and was completed in 1911 at a cost of $29,000. Designed by architects McLaughlin, Pettit and Johnson, the building was designed in the Georgian Revival style and was one of four Lynchburg public schools commissioned around the same time. During the 1950’s it was renamed the Janet Snead School in honor of a prominent local educator, who served as principal of the school from 1919 until 1950. Janet Snead School became the first public school in Lynchburg to be named for a woman. In 1970 the school was closed due to declining enrollment, and it became the new headquarters for the Parks and Recreation Department; it continued in that capacity largely unchanged until 2012 when the current renovations began. In addition to the Miller Center opening after renovations, the Nature Zone also moved back to the Miller Center after spending a brief amount of time at a separate location on Kemper Street. A key component of the renovation was to follow the recommendations of the Miller Park Master Plan, which called for a stronger connection between the Miller Center and Miller Park. Find out more about the history of Miller Park by reading the Master Plan.