Citizens pull together to fund a new YMCA

A group of citizens who have worked hard during the YMCA campaign. Some of the members of the soliciting committee were unable to be present when this photo was taken. Tomlinson photo, 1909. This photo. taken on Saturday, October. 30, 1909, was printed in the Hannibal Morning Journal on Nov. 2, 1909. The building, still standing but with a new front, is at 411 Broadway. Photo from Steve Chou’s vast collection.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

Hannibal area native, educator and author, Gregg Andrews, remembers a particular summer in the late 1950s, spent at the Hannibal YMCA, which was located on the northeast corner of Center and Fifth streets.

His uncle, Wesley Sanders, who was teaching high school at Shelbina, took a job directing the summer YMCA youth program, and rented a nearby house for his family.

“He let me come in there (at the YMCA); I’d stay all day. I learned to play chess, and played pinball.  I’d be completely water logged by the end of day. I’d hitch hike back to (his home in) Monkey Run.”

This is just one among thousands of stories told and retold by current and former residents of Hannibal, who gained maturity and wisdom from their early experiences at this facility. There was a pool in the basement, a grand piano, a gymnasium and reading room, and sleeping quarters upstairs.

Participation at the YMCA was a rite of passage. But before the Y could serve the needs of Hannibal boys - and later girls - a community came together build a building where the core YMCA values could be implemented.

On Friday evening, Oct. 22, 1909, a group of Hannibal men met at the Park Theater to launch the drive to raise $80,000 for the construction of a new building to house the YMCA. Judge Cyrus Albertson presided over the meeting in the absence of George A. Mahan.

A song by the First Regiment Band was followed a rally call to get behind the cause at hand.

A local quartet, consisting of Archey Carter, Clarence Duke, Clarence Parks and George Lake, then presented an encore performance.

George W. Dulany offered to contribute $1,000 for every $2,500 raised.

Campaign chairman were named, with each man heading a committee of 10 members. the chairmen were:

Sydney J. Roy, lawyer, secretary Commercial Club;

S.O. Schulze, furniture and carpet;

Frank L. Kelly, president, Hannibal Commercial Club;

J.J. Brown, jewelry;

William T. League, florist;

Dr. John N. Baskett, physician;

D.O. Lane, Lane and McNally plumbers;

C.B. Beving, Presbyterian minister; and

George D. Clayton, insurance and real estate.

A “big clock” was to be installed at Main and Broadway, on the south front of the Settles building, to “tick off the thousands” of dollars pledged.

Banner day

Nov. 1, 1909 was declared the “banner day” of the campaign. 273 pledges were turned in, amounting to $10,178.

On that day,

W.H. Dulany gave $5,000; and

Helen K. Garth gave $1,500.

A large number of individual donors were also named in the Nov. 2, 1909 newspaper.

The pledges to date totaled $63,264.25.

Douglass teachers

By Nov. 9, 1909, a letter came from the teachers of Douglass School supporting the YMCA project. (The letter appears to indicate that people of color would not be admitted to the YMCA, but that the teachers hoped, in the future, that this segregation would end.)

The letter follows:

“The teachers of the Douglass school have watched with much concern the struggle of the soliciting committees in their efforts put forth to raise the necessary funds to erect a building for the YMCA. Although we are not directly concerned we feel that we, in common with all citizens have an interest, no matter how remote. For that reason we tender our mite and ask to be enrolled among the 2,000 who seek the moral uplift of coming generations.”

Very respectfully,

Miss E.M. Pelham

Miss Lulu Taylor

Miss Bertha Sandidge

Miss Mary Stevens

Miss Lucy Brock (Douglass Branch, 925 Rock)

Miss Nettie Wallace

Mrs. Martin Lewis

Henry Washington

J.H. Pelham

By the end of 1909, the focus had gone from soliciting donations to collecting the cash.

“The attention of the public is called to the fact that the first payments on the subscriptions to the YMCA were due on the first day of December and should be made at once else considerable inconvenience will be occasioned the executive committee having in hand the purchase of property on which to erect the building. Until the payments are made the trustees will be unable to buy or pay for the real estate which is desired to purchase and the start of the building operations may be considerably delayed.”

The Hannibal Evening Courier-Post newspaper, on Dec. 28, 1909, indicated that collectors would be hired after Jan. 1, and that subscribers would not only be responsible for paying the collection fees, but the original pledges as well.

Building begins

A year later, the brick work and masonry on the building was complete, as was the roof. The window sashes were in place, allowing for interior work to progress.

After opening in June, and by the first of August, 1911, the YMCA recorded 348 charter members.

The facility included a reading room, which was open to all men; a gymnasium and pool, pool table and a bowling alley.

Walter E. Mack, the new secretary of the Young Men’s Christian Association, purchased a five room, one bath bungalow at 206 Virginia Street from W.J.A. Meyer in July 1911.

Among the large contributors to the YMCA campaign was Wallace H. Rowe, (1861-1919) who was the first president of the Pittsburgh Steel Company. He donated $1,000. He was the son of  Joseph Rowe (1812-1898) and Margaret Boyce Rowe, (1818-1903). The elder Rowes lived at 420 N. Fifth, and are buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hannibal.

Mary Lou Montgomery retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,”  and “St. Mary’s Avenue District.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com