History of the Y

1844 – George Williams joins with 11 friends to organize the first Young Men’s Christian Association in industrialized London. The Y offers Bible study and prayer to help keep young men off the streets.

Dec. 29, 1851 – Sea captain and missionary Thomas Valentine Sullivan and six colleagues found the first Y at the Old South Church in Boston to create a safe “home away from home” for sailors and merchants.

1853 – Freed slave Anthony Bowen starts the first African-American Y in Washington, D.C. In the following decades, more Ys are established to serve diverse populations, including Asians and Native Americans in San Francisco and Flandreau, S.D., respectively.

1856 – In the absence of public schools, early Ys provide care for children of the poor through free Sunday and mission schools.

The first Student Ys organize at universities in Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin to foster the leadership development of college students.

The Cincinnati YMCA offers the nation’s first-recorded English as a Second Language course for German immigrants.

1861 – A conference with President Abraham Lincoln leads to the recruitment of 5,000 Y volunteers who serve as surgeons, nurses and chaplains during the Civil War.

1867 – Chicago’s Farwell Hall, the first known Y dormitory, is completed, offering safe and affordable housing to young men moving to cities from rural areas.

1872 – The first Railroad YMCA is organized in Cleveland, a partnership between the Y and railroad companies to offer lodging and meeting space for railroad workers.

1881 – Dr. Luther Gulick revolutionizes the American approach to health and fitness with the idea that man’s well-being depends on a unity of body, mind and spirit. The same year, Boston YMCA staffer Robert J. Roberts coins the term “body building” and develops exercise classes that anticipate today’s fitness workouts.

1885 – The Y starts Camp Dudley, America’s first known summer camp, at Orange Lake, N.Y. Its aim is to help kids build skills and grow in self-reliance while making new friends. Over the years, the Y creates more family and year-round camps and expands their focus to include environmental stewardship, academics, arts and leadership.

1889 – World Service is founded to raise awareness of and financial support for the powerful work of the global Y movement.

The Chapman, Kansas YMCA develops the Hi-Y club for high-school boys to promote Christian character through sportsmanship and scholastic achievement. The service clubs ultimately become the “four fronts” program—Hi-Y, Jr. Hi-Y, Tri Hi-Y, and Gra-Y—and serve youth of all ages.

1890s – Physical education teacher James Naismith invents basketball at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Mass. Later, Y instructor William Morgan blends elements of basketball, tennis and handball into a less strenuous game called “mintonette,” later known as “volley ball.”

1893 – Large-scale evening classes begin at the Boston YMCA to offer adults vocational and liberal arts courses.

1910 – Answering a Y campaign “to teach every man and boy in North America” to swim, George Corsan comes to the Detroit YMCA to teach the skill using unique methods: group lessons and lessons on land as a confidence builder.

1917 – Throughout World War I, the Y provides welfare services for the military. Over 5,000 women serve the Y in the U.S. and France. By war’s end, the Y, through the United War Work Council, has operated 1,500 canteens in the U.S and France; set up 4,000 Y huts for recreation and religious services; and raised more than $235 million ($4.3 billion today)—for relief work.

1926 – Based on the Native-American family model, the parent-child program Y-Indian Guides starts at the St. Louis YMCA to foster the companionship of father and son. The program expands to include mothers and daughters and eventually evolves into Adventure Guides.

1936 – Sponsored by the New York State YMCA, the Youth and Government program begins in Albany to encourage high-school youth to understand and participate in the government process.