The "The Story Of Lancaster's Original Young Men's Christian Association" Story

It was an ordinary day.  I recently found a photograph that showed the demolition of the original YMCA in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  One of the neatest old buildings in center city Lancaster when I was a young boy.  I made a few visits to the "Y" with friends who held memberships so I could go swimming with them.  Also remember standing in front of the building when local parades marched down West Orange Street.  The YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) was an elegantly refined Beaux Arts building that used some of the same architectural proponents as other Architect C. Emblem Urban buildings such as the nearby Watt & Shand and Stevens High School.  They also reflected the same style as the nearby Griest Building.  The YMCA had four floors which later had an additional floor added to it.  The east side of the building faced North Queen Street and was five bays wide with retail stores lining the ground-level floor.  The south side of the building, facing West Orange, contained the YMCA's entry door where I remember going into the building.  It was centered below a projecting balcony that was on the third-floor.  The pool was in the lower level with a second floor that had a track, basketball court with all types of exercise equipment. The third floor had game rooms of all types with candy machines and pool tabes.  

The YMCA at the corner of N. Queen and W. Orange Streets

Pilasters spanning the second and third floors met the arches of the fourth-floor windows.  The Lancaster YMCA began in 1870 when it opened in a few different buildings.  Then in April of 1895, the YMCA Board of Directors purchased the Shober Hotel property at Queen and Orange Streets for $60,000.  They broke ground for the new building on April 21, 1899 with the corner stone being placed on June 17, 1900.  The building was dedicated on April 8, 1901.  

A parade passes the old YMCA in Lancaster City.

The total cost for the YMCA was $215,000 which included the price of the property, the furnishings and the building.  The Board of Directors eventually launched a "debt-free campaign" to help raise $100,000.  Businessman James Shand, one of the co-counders of Watt & Stand Department Store, helped raise money to pay for the building.  A 1910 history of the organization stated that the large new building was evidence that the YMCA was keeping pace with the steady and prosperous growth of the City of Lancaster.  Then in July of 1965, with the decline of interest in the YMCA, it was demolished to allow for construction of the Prince Street parking garage which was part of the development of Lancaster Square to the North.  

The demolition of the Lancaster YMCA in downtown Lancaster.

The YMCA was relocated to another location on North Queen Street which was in a smaller building.  Not long ago it was once again moved to a building along the Harrisburg Pike where it remains today. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.