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4 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS - MAINE’S PROGRESSIVE BUSINESS | Friday | January 14, 2011
Bangor Y: 144 years of service, a recent merger, and a very bright future Branch Lake in Ellsworth in 1925 where it continues today.
By Greg Westrich For 144 and 97 years respectively, the Bangor YMCA and YWCA Bangor Brewer were separate organizations that served as leaders in promoting health and wellness for all in Greater Bangor. After a long collaborative history, the two organizations joined forces in 2004 and merged in 2008. Now at one location at 17 Second Street, the Bangor Y looks forward to building on the rich traditions of both organizations to serve the community.
The Origin of the Bangor YMCA The Bangor Y’s roots date at least to 1843 when Governor Edward Kent and others formed the Bangor Young Men’s Bible Society. During the Civil War, it banded together with similar organizations to help alleviate the suffering of the war. Impressed with national YMCA leaders they met on the battlefields, several Society members joined with other citizens in May 1867 to become the Bangor YMCA. The organization officially received its charter from the national YMCA on Jan. 1, 1881. In 1891, the Bangor YMCA opened its first dedicated building at the corner of Court and Hammond Streets. Over time, the building was renovated and expanded to meet the community’s changing needs. The residency program begun in 1890 was eventually eliminated, and new pools, a fitness center, racquetball courts, and a climbing wall were later added. The first Neighborhood Club was established in 1946, a predecessor of the Bangor Y’s current Neighborhood Clubs. The YMCA’s resident camp, Camp Jordan, begun in Enfield in 1908, moved to the shores of
The Origin of the YWCA According to Julia Eaton’s history of the Bangor-Brewer YWCA, “The First 75 Years,” the organization was founded in 1914, growing out of the Girls’ Welfare Rooms, located above Lufkin’s Confectionery, begun two years earlier. Bangor, still a rough city, could be a dangerous place for women travelling alone, but many young women were drawn to Bangor’s employment opportunities. YWCA Travelers Aid representatives met young women arriving by train or boat and escorted them safely to the YWCA where they could get room, 15-cent dinners, and Christian instruction. In 1918 the YWCA moved to the Coe Building at the corner of Main and Cross Sreets, which provided space for a large dining room, kitchen, sleeping rooms, and a gym. When the Coe block burned on February 13, 1927, the fire destroyed $1 million in real estate and the belongings of the women living at the YWCA. The next day, the YWCA board met in space the YMCA provided. The YMCA also provided program space, forming the organizations’ first collaboration. In March, the YWCA rented space at 77 Columbia Street until a new YWCA building at Union and Second Streets was completed in 1929. During the Depression, YWCA activities emphasized services for women and girls. There was an employment agency, Traveler’s Aid, shelter, showers and baths, and reading rooms open to both women and men. The YMCA provided aquatics programming from 1935 until 1972, when the Means Pool was completed at the YWCA. Day care, after-school,
PHOTO COURTESY OF RICHARD SHAW
A colorized photo of the YMCA building on Hammond Street, which was constructed in 1891. The gymnasium in this building survives today on the Court Street side of the current structure, built in 1969-1970.
and teen programming were also added at the YWCA and continue today.
Working Together with Similar Missions The missions of both the YWCA and the YMCA had always emphasized the connection between spiritual and physical health. Exercise and recreation were integral parts of their programs, and in the 1920s camping became an important factor. The YMCA had Camp Jordan, which the YWCA rented in 1922 in Enfield and again in 1927 at Branch Lake. In 1925, the YWCA rented Hooper’s Camps on Phillips Lake for 12 girls. In 1930 a YWCA summer camp began in Sorrento, running for
BDN FILE PHOTO BY JOHN CLARKE RUSS
Bangor Y staff, board members and other members of the Y community broke ground for the new parking lot at the Bangor Y's Second Street Location Thursday morning, September 23, 2010. The Bangor Y purchased several properties on Sanford Street, the next street up from Second. These properties abut the Y property, and the houses were demolished to make way for the expansion.
nine seasons until moving to Camp Tanglewood in the Camden Hills in 1939. After the 1970 season, the camp closed. By then, day camping had eclipsed resident camping as the summer recreation of choice. The YMCA had built its first day camp near where Bangor High School sits today in 1944. Camp Prentiss later moved to Hampden and renamed Camp G. Peirce Webber. In 1973, Camp Prentiss held its first girls’ program, Camp Suvaca, and in 1974 all Camp Prentiss programs were co-ed. Today, day campers enjoy swimming, baseball, rope courses, archery, crafts, and more. The first YWCA day camp was PHOTO COURTESY OF RICHARD SHAW held in 1943 at the YWCA faciliThe YWCA baseball team, circa 1900, posing outside the 1891 building. ty and used the YMCA pool. The YWCA started Camp Goodtimes
had often combined their fundraising efforts. In 2004 the two entered a three-year Affiliation Agreement to share resources, reduce costs, and expand programming. Blending the two missions into a Bangor Y culture was very successful. Maintaining separate charters with the YMCA and YWCA proved more difficult. So at the end of 2008, the groups merged as the Bangor YMCA, doing business as the Bangor Y. To use space and resources Moving Beyond most effectively and keep costs Cooperation down, it was clear that the BanIn 2002, the United Way — gor Y could best serve the comwhich helped fund many of the munity by consolidating into one two organizations’ programs — location. This led to the decision suggested the two groups considSee BANGOR Y, Page 7 er collaboration. They had been working together for years and in 1960 on Hurd Pond at the former Girl Scout camp; five years later, it was renamed Molly Molasses. Campers ages 6-12 were bussed from Bangor for activities including swimming, canoeing, sailing, camp crafts, cookouts, and hiking. The camp moved to its present location on Chemo Pond in the late 1970s. Camp Discovery, later called Travel Camp, began in 1969, and Kiddie Kamp began in 1973 for younger children.