#richmondymca

[RYMCA] — branch building in 1886??

America’s urban streets of the 1800’s and early 1900’s were filled with questionable activities for young men of the day. Richmond’s Shockoe Valley, with its well-known red-light district was a prime example. To protect and save railroad workers and other impressionable youth, a partnership was formed by the major railroad lines and the National YMCA in Cleveland, OH in 1872. (RVA Apartment.com)

[RYMCA] — YMCA information pamphlet — Why Should I? Five Good Reasons Why I should be a Member of the Railroad Young Men’s Christian Association

YMCA programs for rail employees became its largest effort for blue-collar workers until the decline of the nation’s railway workforce. Rail management and workers liked the Railroad YMCA because it offered employees a decent alternative to flop houses, brothels and saloons.

(RVA Apartment.com) — undated photo of the YMCA baseball team

Richmond’s Railroad YMCA opened in October 1909. It would serve men working on the Chesapeake and Ohio; Seaboard Air Line; Southern; Atlantic Coast Line; and the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac. Located at Main Street Station, the building offered showers and tub baths, a swimming pool, a gym, soap and towels, a reading room, checkers, chess, dominoes and social events.

(RVA Apartment.com) — early 1900s

Sleeping space was available. Also available were a bowling alley, poolroom, auditorium, kitchen and ladies’ parlor. The cost for building and equipping the structure came to about $100,000.

May 2019

A period brochure promoting membership promised benefiits that included exercise opportunities, career-related courses, entertainment and religious activities. Again, classes appealed to many.

Most courses related directly to railway operations: air brakes for trains, basic math, algebra and geometrical and mechanical drawing

May 2019

The Railroad YMCA also offered a networking system—known as the Confidential Counsel. Members completed a card, asking for the advice of a physician, lawyer, businessman, minister or YMCA secretary or physical director. The goal was to link men to honest counselors who could guide them through practical and spiritual problems.

May 2019

The Richmond Railway YMCA even played a key role in the social and family life of area rail employees. Family outings were a regular program feature. In summer 1909, for example, the Y sponsored a family trip to Buckroe Beach. [RYMCA]

May 2019

By 1944, the Richmond membership grew to as many as 2000 but as automobile travel became more and more popular, the entire Railroad YMCA movement had seen its heyday. The Richmond Branch ceased operation December 31, 1971. (RVA Apartment.com)

May 2019

Despite the issues regarding the origination date, this building is flipping beautiful, to the point that the stone railing has been reconstructed, as seen above.

City of Richmond says this was built in 1907. RYMCA has a photo that says 1886, so it’s unclear what the actual construction date happens to be. Perhaps the YMCA existed on this site in some form prior to the construction of Main Street Station and the new building. It’s really not clear. This is not helped by the fact that Robert Winthrop’s Architecture in Downtown Richmond starts with Main Street Station and just overlooks the building next door, but alas, you have to draw lines somewhere.

May 2019

Of course, let us not forget that this building is also a victim of the Insidious Tree-Architecture Conspiracy, a dark cabal of incomparable madness, sneering at the human condition seeking betterment via contemplation of architectural wonder.

(Railroad Branch YMCA is part of the Atlas RVA! Project)

Print Sources

(LOC) — Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Richmond (1905) — Plate 9

“Our aim, in brief, is to have the very best building, and do the very best for young men that is done anywhere—a work that shall grow as our city grows and as the work of the Young Men’s Christian Association develops,” a member wrote in a letter to the Richmond Dispatch.

Strong local support facilitated a speedy start. Within a year of Moody’s appearance, the Richmond YMCA had raised $30,000, selected an architect, approved plans, acquired a lot at the northwest corner of Sixth and Main Streets, and solicited bids from builders. Work formally began on June 10, 1886, after the ceremonial laying of a cornerstone. The building was dedicated on May 19, 1887.

(Wikimedia) — Design for the Building of the Young Men’s Christian Association  — American Architect and Building News, November 14, 1885

The new Richmond YMCA shared many traits with the 23rd Street YMCA in New York, including a gym. Like the New York Y, Richmond’s had a solid appearance. The Richmond building had a rough granite exterior at the first floor level. Brick was above that. Stone was used for windowsills. The entrance was on Main Street, and a large corner tower stood at Main and Sixth.

(Bryn Mawr College) — YMCA building architects Walter Cope (right) and John Stewardson (left)

“The architecture is to the fullest extent free, yet based chiefly on motives derived from the vigorous styles prevailing in Southern France and Northern Italy during the eleventh and twelfth centuries,” the Richmond Dispatch reported. “Its prototypes, if it can be said to have any, are to be found among the grand old markets or town halls of Lombardy, as well as with the massive churches of Auvergne. In this sense, the style may be roughly classed as Romanesque.” 

[RYMCA]

The gym was in the basement. It measured 50 by 50 by 20 feet and extended into the second floor. A bowling alley and locker room were next to the gym. Anybody wishing to use the gym paid a $7 annual fee. For that, they got a well-equipped facility.

“Our equipment is the finest in the state,” a period circular reported. “It includes the latest appliances in developing apparatus—the celebrated Murphy Pulley Weight, a new Hydraulic Rowing Machine, Iron and Wooden Dumb Bells, Wands and Indian Clubs. The equipment in heavy apparatus is of the latest pattern, and consists of Horizontal and Parallel bars, German Horse and Buck, with a bountiful supply of well-padded Floor Mats—Baths: Shower, Needle and Sponge Baths are supplied with hot and cold water.”

[RVCJ93]

The new YMCA quickly became a busy place. It remained one for the next 25 years. One measure of this was the usage. By 1893, 92,608 people came to the facility annually. Some came for spiritual reasons. The Y offered Bible study, prayer meetings and referred members to local churches.

[RYMCA] — YMCA front steps

Library visitation was high. Classes proved popular, too. Young men could learn about a variety of subjects at the Y. The best attended courses were those applicable to work. These included bookkeeping, commercial law, telegraphy and commercial arithmetic. The value of professional classes for hardworking, ambitious young men cannot be over-estimated. Testimonials confirming this appeared frequently in newsletters of the period. For example, in 1902, a new Richmond YMCA member told how night school classes at the 23rd Street YMCA in New York had allowed him to succeed in industry after previously being unemployed.

[RYMCA] — fitness class in progress

The most popular activities at the Richmond YMCA were those associated with sports and fitness. Y members enthusiastically embraced “muscular Christianity” on the baseball diamond, tennis court and floor. Workouts in the latter were executed under the careful eye of the new gymnasium superintendent, Thomas Cornelius, formerly of the Baltimore YMCA. Apparently, Cornelius was a firm advocate of bodybuilding, a term that originated at the Boston YMCA. Cornelius even encouraged members to skip learning gymnastic routines, a much-promoted pathway to fitness in the nineteenth century.

[RYMCA] — showing Dr. James Naismith, inventor of basketball

In the realm of sports, though, the warmest enthusiasm existed for the recently invented game of basketball. James Naismith, a physical education instructor, created basketball under the guidance of Luther Gulick, then director of the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Gulick wanted a fast-paced indoor game for winter. Naismith began work on the project in December 1891. Naismith’s early experiments involved mounting peach baskets in the gym. Initially, basketball had just 13 rules. Students loved the game. Naismith developed more detailed rules and published them on January 15, 1892. The first formal basketball game occurred five days later at Springfield College.

[RYMCA]

It is unclear when basketball arrived at the Richmond YMCA. However, by 1898, documents show basketball was a centerpiece of local Y sports programs. Leagues and championship play were permanent features by the early 1900s. The Richmond YMCA’s first home was thoroughly a product of its time, the movement and its community. For the better part of three decades, it would serve well the needs of Richmonders’ spirits, minds and bodies.

March 2019 — 514 (or 530?) East Main Street today

Boy, it'd be interesting to see today's NCAA basketball getting by on just 13 rules. How different the game is with the shot clock violation, the 10-second rule, the 5-second rule, and the 3-point shot.

The original YMCA was replaced the by Central YMCA in 1909 when it relocated to Seventh & Grace Streets. The old building was demolished in 1912 when the Eskimo Pie Building was constructed. This was a pity; a true loss to Richmond’s architectural portfolio.

Even though the Sanborn map shows the old Y’s address as 514 East Main Street, the Eskimo Pie Building is at 530 East Main Street, and it says so right on the entrance. It even says so on the Sixth Street entrance, which is a little confusing, but let’s just roll with it.

(Original YMCA is part of the Atlas RVA! Project)

Print Sources

[RVCJ93] Richmond, Virginia: The City on the James: The Book of Its Chamber of Commerce and Principal Business Interests. G. W. Engelhardt. 1893.