YMCA of Greater Dayton history

The decision to re-establish the YMCA in Dayton was made on February 13th, 1870 by a group of local pastors.

In 1874, H.P. Adams resigned as secretary and David A. Sinclair was hired as his replacement.

Shortly after hiring David Sinclair (1875) the association had outgrown the Young Men’s Reading Room and the association leadership decided to launch a public campaign to obtain a larger facility.

By 1886, the Dunlevy house had become too small and a public campaign was launched to replace the current structure on the same site.

In February of 1887 a new facility designed to serve up to 1200 members opened.

The “colored” YMCA was founded in 1889.

In 1897 David Sinclair began to identify and explore opportunities for expansion and present them to the Board of Trustees.

In September of 1902 David Sinclair passed away.

In April of 1908 the new YMCA facility on the Eaker Family home site was opened and was valued at $500,000.

Kern came to Dayton in 1909 as boys' secretary for the YMCA.

In 1915, Kern wrote a report to the YMCA board with one line that has been quoted numerous times over the years.

Camp Kern was originally called Camp Ozone. It was renamed when Kern, the boys YMCA secretary, died in a car accident in 1917 at the age of 37.

The Fifth Street YMCA started Boy Scout Troop 30 in 1919 under A.W. Payne.

By 1921 demand for the YMCA’s educational classes and seminars had become so strong the association started The School of Commerce and Finance at the YMCA with 2 and 4-year programs.

In 1925, with the addition of the adult education classes and programs the YMCA had once again outgrown its facility and a plan for expansion was announced.

With fundraising efforts coinciding with the building of the Central YMCA, the Fifth Street YMCA branch was built on the west side of Dayton (907 West Fifth Street) and opened to the public on New Year’s Day, 1928 as the 18th privately owned black YMCA building in the nation.

On September 8th, 1929, the “Central Branch” of the Dayton YMCA opened at 316 N. Wilkinson Street.

By 1938 the Wittenberg-Dayton YMCA School had grown in reputation and had its Engineering Administration program formally recognized by the Department of Education as a college level program which opened the door for further growth and expansion.

In 1948, the Wittenberg-Dayton YMCA School of Liberal Arts was renamed Sinclair College of the YMCA to honor David Sinclair and his contributions to the YMCA and the adult education movement.

In May of 1949 the Dayton association marked a milestone when it opened the Oakwood YMCA Branch.

The current Fairborn YMCA facility was opened in 1951 replacing the one destroyed by fire.

In the fall of 1955 the YMCA President and General Secretary met with 80 interested citizens at Moraine Country Club to explore the possibility of bringing a YMCA and its programs to the rapidly growing suburb of Kettering.

On February 1st, 1956, after about a year of exploration the Kettering YMCA was organized as an extension of the metropolitan office.

14 months later on April 2nd, 1957, the Kettering YMCA petitioned the Metropolitan Board of Advisors for branch status.

By 1960, the Dayton YMCA had become a multi-branch metropolitan organization with the Central branch also housing the association level staff.

In 1961, Jack Singerman started as Kern's director.

One of Singerman's many accomplishments was establishing a ranch camp in 1964, and bringing in equestrian activities that remain a major component of the camp with both western and English dressage.

With a new purpose of working with boys and girls in the inner city, the Enrichment Center program began through the Fifth Street YMCA branch In 1965.

A clue to naming a camp ozone can be found in a 1966 World Book encyclopedia entry explaining that ozone, a form of oxygen had uses as an antiseptic and bactericide.

With space at a premium, the Kettering YMCA was a busy beehive of activity and would need to be expanded 2 more times by 1974 to add additional gymnasiums, and activity space.

In 1975, the Fifth Street YMCA closed when the interstate divided the community.

In 1988, the Central Branch YMCA was sold to McCormack Baron as part of an urban revitalization program.

The Central Branch’s residence rooms were converted to downtown apartments and the facility re-opened as The Landing and the Downtown YMCA in 1992.

The Coffman YMCA opened as a 45,000-square foot facility in January 2000.

In February of 2002, the Kleptz YMCA opened as a 63,000-square foot facility.

In February of 2003, the Preble County YMCA opened a 40,000-square foot facility.

The West Carrollton YMCA opened a 36,000-square foot facility in March 2004, which includes a gym, lap pool and warm water therapy pool, health & wellness center, teen center and multi-purpose space located on 10 acres of property.

By February of 2005, the YMCA of Greater Dayton opened its 5th new full facility in 5 years.

In November of 2006, the YMCA of Greater Dayton pursued a new model of urban expansion opening the YMCA Neighborhood Development Center-Trotwood.

In the four years after the 2008 merger, the YMCA of Greater Dayton invested over $620,000 into facility upgrades and equipment at the Beavercreek YMCA, yet that facility still required over $1,100,000 in subsidies from the Association to continue daily operations.

In 2013, the difficult decision was made to close the Beavercreek YMCA and sell the facility to the Dayton Raiders Swim Club.

On March 15th, 2018, the YMCA of Greater Dayton began construction on a new facility in Xenia.

In July 2019, the construction of a 5,000 square foot expansion to the wellness center at YMCA at the Heights began.

Throughout 2020 the YMCA found other ways to serve the Greater Dayton area.