YMCA of Eastern Union County Inc history

Gideons International was formed on July 1, 1899, at the YMCA in Janesville, Wis., by three men (Nicholson, Hill and Knights) who had come up with the idea a few months earlier.

Toastmasters International was invented in 1903 as an older youth public speaking program by Ralph C. Smedley, education director of the Bloomington (Ill.) YMCA. Smedley realized that older boys visiting the Y needed training in communication skills.

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.

After Lord S.S. Baden-Powell and others started Scouting in 1907 in Britain, it spread to America, and many YMCAs here had Boy Scout programs around the turn of the century.

Father's Day in its present form was created at a meeting at the Spokane, Wash., YMCA in 1909 by Louise Smart Dodd.

Twenty-five black YMCAs were built in 23 cities (there were three in New York City) as a result of a challenge grant program announced by Julius Rosenwald in 1910.

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.

Carter G. Woodson, Ph.D., a historian and the second African American to receive a doctorate in history from Harvard University, stayed at the Wabash Area YMCA in Chicago when he visited the city during the 1910s. It was there that Doctor Woodson and three friends met in 1915 to found the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.

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.

In 1922, YMCAs held their first national championship in the game.

According to Valparaiso University's Art Department, Sallman made a charcoal sketch of Head of Christ at his studio at 5412 North Spaulding, Chicago, in 1924 as cover art for a magazine called The Covenant.

Elizabeth Branch main building opens January 1, 1929 just months before the Great Depression.

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

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.

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.

Beginning in 1970 the fraternal secretaries serving YMCAs overseas were being called home.

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

In 1984, it was reported that YMCAs collectively were the largest operator of swimming pools in the world.

In 1993, the Jerusalem International YMCA, the only Y owned by the YMCA of the USA, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for its work for promoting peace in the Middle East.

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

In 1997, only Springfield College and the George Williams College of Aurora (Ill.) University retain close ties with the movement.

The Association Offices are moved from the Elizabeth Branch building to the new quarters in Sierra Gardens in August 2004.

On June 11, 2013 the Elizabeth Branch celebrates a Grand Re-Opening ceremony upon completion of renovations.