Salem News
By Cate Lecuyer
February 15, 2008

From the Civil War to civil rights to civil unions, a lot has happened the last century and a half, and local YMCAs have played a part in history.

The location of the Salem YMCA, for instance, is the same spot where Alexander Graham Bell lived when he invented the telephone. His house was bulldozed to make room for the current building.

The Beverly Y's claim to fame is that President William Taft, who had a summer home at Lynch Park, laid the final cornerstone for the Cabot Street facility, built in 1911.

The YMCA on the North Shore is hoping to find more stories and local color, and it wants the public to help by sending in anything related to any of the facilities.

"We know the bigger stuff, but there's got to be people out there to fill in some of the blanks," said Stephanie Lyons, communications director for the YMCA of the North Shore.

The historical preservation effort was inspired by the 150th anniversary of the Salem YMCA, the longest-running chapter on the North Shore.

Although Haverhill was actually built earlier, in 1855, and Cape Ann was built the same year as Salem, they closed down when most of their membership went to fight in the Civil War, Lyons said. Only the Salem YMCA remained open.

About 10 years ago, the local YMCAs began merging to become collectively known as the YMCA of the North Shore, and the 150th celebration will include them all.

Employees of the North Shore YMCA have searched the basements and found stacks of old books full of yellow, crumbling newspaper clippings. They even uncovered the handwritten minutes from the first board of directors meeting.

Yet it's the personal stories they want to uncover, to show how local Ys affected and were affected by changing times.

Nationally, for example, the YMCA opened its doors to black members in 1853 — before slavery was officially outlawed. During the Civil War, and later during World Wars I and II, volunteers served as surgeons, nurses and chaplains for soldiers. The YMCA and its members were instrumental in developing the games of basketball, volleyball and racquetball, and it was a Y that built the first indoor swimming pool.

To discover how that history played out on the North Shore, Lyons wants members to dig up photographs, postcards, brochures, ticket stubs, trophies, old jerseys, written or recorded stories, and much more, all of which will be documented and given back. Some of it will make its way onto large, scrapbook-like panels that will preserve the past and highlight local achievements.

The panels will outline a 15-year period, and every month each YMCA will put one up with the history of that specific chapter displayed under glass. The last panel, in December, will focus on upcoming projects and what's to come.

"It's to show we've been around for 150 years, and we're going to be around in the future," Lyons said.

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