YMCA of Lincoln history

The first YMCA serving United States Native American was founded in 1879 by Thomas Wakeman, a Dakota Indian, in Flandreau, South Dakota.

In 1881, Boston YMCA staffer Robert J. Roberts coined the term “body building” and developed exercise classes that were a precursor to today’s fitness workouts.

Camping became a cornerstone of YMCA programming in 1885 when the YMCA opened America’s first known summer camp, Camp Dudley at Orange Lake, New York.

The first Hi-Y club for high school boys was started at the Chapman, Kansas YMCA in 1889.

In December 1891, Doctor Luther Gulick, director of the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, gave physical education teacher James Naismith two weeks to come up with an indoor winter game to challenge a class of future Y directors.

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

In 1893, the Boston YMCA began offering larger-scale liberal arts and vocational courses.

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

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.

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

In Lincolnshire there were originally two YMCAs – Lincoln YMCA and Stamford YMCA. The two associations merged in 2005 to form YMCA Lincolnshire.

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.