YMCA of Metro Chattanooga history

Many other YMCAs had camp experiences for youth as well, and in 1882 national records started recording camping programs under outings and excursions.

Previously, academic training for YMCA employees was mostly summer institutes and training sessions, the first being held in 1884 at Lake Geneva, Wis.

By 1886 there were 10 Indian associations with a total of 156 members.

It was 20 years before the second dormitory was built at a YMCA, this time in Milwaukee in 1887.

Finally, a YMCA was given permanent quarters in Fort Monroe, Va., in 1889.

The need for a formal school was also felt in the Midwest, with a YMCA Training School housed in the downtown Chicago YMCA opening in 1890 with five students.

The first YMCA in Phoenix opened on the ground floor of a two-story building located at First and Washington streets in 1892.

Professional football began at a YMCA. In 1895, in Latrobe, Pa., John Brailer was paid $10 plus expenses by the local YMCA to replace the injured quarterback on their team.

The name "volleyball" was first used in 1896 during an exhibition at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Mass., to better describe how the ball went back and forth over the net.

By 1898 there were about 40 Indian associations, including several student YMCAs.

The first was the development of mass swim lessons in 1906 by George Corsan at the Detroit YMCA. What Corsan did was to teach swimming strokes on land, starting with the crawl stroke first, as a confidence builder.

Since 1909, our YMCA, like our city, has grown and branched out in many directions.

The Camp Fire Girls (now Camp Fire Boys and Girls) were founded in 1910 through the joint efforts of Luther Gulick, M.D., and his wife, Charlotte.

The first National Council office of the Boy Scouts of America was opened in New York City in 1911.

The first official steps to organizing the fund began in 1913.

The Ragger Society, the forerunner of today's Rags and Leather Program, was started in 1914 at Camp Loma Mar in California.

The building had been designed so that the roof could be raised to insert a fourth floor, which occurred in 1915.

By 1916, there were approximately 83,000 students taking more than 200 YMCA courses.

Another, The Meaning of YMCA (You Must Come Across), written by Ed Rose and Abe Olman in 1918, had the lyric: They've done their bit and more.

The Southern YMCA College and Graduate School was founded in Nashville, Tenn., in 1919, with the help of Vanderbilt University, Peabody College for Teachers, and Scarritt College for Christian Workers.

Y leaders were urged to become more businesslike in both their appearance and their operations, a topic raised by Y boards since the 1920s.

In 1932 there were more than 1 million swimmers a year at YMCAs.

When direct relief was taken over by the federal government in 1933, it released YMCAs and other nonprofits from their welfare tasks.

In 1938 a national plan was developed for certifying aquatic directors and instructors.

Some lists of YMCA firsts state that Warner Sallman painted Head of Christ in the reading room of the Central YMCA in Chicago in 1940.

To assist military personnel passing through Phoenix during World War II, the YMCA added a servicemen's dormitory to the roof in 1942.

In 1944, YMCA Director John C. Lincoln proposed construction of a new facility and soon had $525,000 in pledges, including $50,000 from his family.

In Chicago, Roosevelt University was founded in 1945 as a result of a split within the existing Central YMCA College.

The Council for National Cooperation in Aquatics, formed in 1951, was created as a result of the efforts of the YMCA. A group of 20 national agencies, the Council was organized to expand cooperation in the field of aquatics.

21, 1952, and hosted more than 18,000 people during Open House Week.

Jazzercise, a famous aerobic exercise program for women, was started in 1969 in Evanston, Ill., by a dancer, Judi Missett.

After 1975, the old physical programming featured by YMCAs for a century began to perk up as interest in healthy lifestyles increased nationwide.

In 1996, child care became the movement's second largest source of revenue, after membership dues.

More than 50 years later, when the YMCA facility was showing its age, a generous donation by the Lincoln family led the building's $6.9 million renovation that was completed in 2006.

In 2013, it partnered with Arizona State University on a $25 million addition that added 75,000 square feet to the YMCA. Sun Devil students now comprise a large part of the membership.