YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago records

Biography/Profile

The YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago was founded in 1876, following the establishment of women’s Christian associations in New York and Boston. At the time, Chicago was rebuilding from the Great Fire of 1871 and growing numbers of young single women were coming to the city looking for work. The YWCA provided services to these women including safe housing, religious and vocational instruction, and efforts to improve labor conditions.

The YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago started providing living quarters for single women in 1877. By the 1890s the YWCA featured a library, auditorium, gymnasium, and 180 rooms for female residency. An employment bureau offered courses in typing and sales, two occupations then considered exclusive to men. By the 1920s, the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago provided rooms in four residences to house up to 10,000 women. The Harriet Hammond McCormick YWCA opened in the late 1920s and featured a swimming pool and beauty parlor. The YWCA also owned and operated a summer camp on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

As the YWCA’s infrastructure adapted to the needs of young women, so did its policies regarding faith and race. At first only white Christian women who were members of Evangelical congregations were allowed to join, and up to 1934 the organization required a pledge to Christianity. In 1912, the YWCA began to assist African American girls, but only then by referring them to African American women. Still, the YWCA would in time prove to be ahead of the nation in promoting racial equality and integration. Its services and board of directors were racially integrated in the 1940s.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the YWCA’s services shifted further from a focus on moral welfare to broader goals of social justice. New programs included early childhood services and counseling for survivors of rape and domestic violence. In 1969, Doris Vivian Wilson became the first African American Executive Director for Chicago and steered the organization toward promotion and advocacy of the Women’s Movement. The 1970s also saw a decline in resources. Residences were closed and sold, ending the YWCA’s direct involvement in providing room and board for women. In 1989 the YWCA sold its Forest Beach summer camp on Lake Michigan.

Today, the YWCA focuses on women’s economic empowerment, support for survivors of sexual violence, and early childhood service. Racial justice remains an essential component of the organization’s work.

Cited sources:

“Local History,” YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, accessed September 9, 2012.

Knupfer, Anne Meis. “Young Women’s Christian Association,” The Encyclopedia of Chicago, accessed September 9, 2012, http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1394.html.