THE YWCA OF RACINE: 1894 - 1991

As the twentieth century, a time which transformed the lives of American women, draws to a close, the YWCA of Racine celebrates its centennial. Its archives are rich with photographs, articles, and memorabilia that reflect the changing roles and interests of women over the last 100 years. This story of one hundred years of women in action shows how we have grown, as all women have, during the dynamic twentieth century.

We began without a place to call our own - renting rooms in the YMCA building on the northeast corner of Sixth and College, and we would occupy six more locations before finally building our own facility in 1953. In 1894, however, a few rooms were enough from which to launch a dream; a dream that had begun a year earlier when a small group of women met at the Congregational Church to discuss the possibility of organizing a Young Women’s Christian Association in Racine.

On June 18th, 1894, 100 women met and the dream came true. Mrs. Charles Erskine was elected president. Their goal for this newly organized YWCA was “the symmetrical development of all young women who can be brought under its influence, to bring all young women together for their highest physical, social, business, intellectual, and spiritual interests and development.” The general affairs of the Association were to be directed by a “Board of Managers, consisting of 18 of the strongest, most earnest women of our city, who have the highest interests of our young women deeply at heart.”

The Board and approximately 11 committees worked all summer developing programs and services. By September, they had a general secretary (a Racine woman, Nellie Sheldon), a program schedule, and rooms at 531 College Avenue on the west side of what is best known as the Red Cross Drug building at 6th and College, but what was then the YMCA.

In June 1895, at the YWCA’s first anniversary, Nellie Sheldon told of 12,973 visitors during the year, five entertainments, four receptions, five teas, ten socials, two lectures and picnics, and an association paper. Classes had been held in nursing and hygiene, physical culture, literature and Bible study. Regular Sunday afternoon devotional meetings were also held. Membership had grown to 400.

During the first 25 years, the Association occupied six different locations before it finally owned its own building. It moved from the YMCA to 743 Wisconsin Avenue (which must have been next to Racine High School), then to 529 Wisconsin Avenue (just north of the old court house), then to above the National Tea Store at 408 Main Street.

In 1912, the Association relocated again to 424 Main, where it occupied the entire third floor for nine years. There was room for a gymnasium and a dressmaking department. This location is best remembered as the Neisner Five and Ten. Courses during the teens included: business girl efficiency class; practical sewing; cooking; first aid; English for foreign-speaking girls; domestic science; basketball; literature; French; and German.

The Sunshine Gym Club was the first club of the YWCA of Racine, organizing in the early 1900s. Clubs in the teens included: Santa Claus Club; Sunnyside Club; and Mandolin and Guitar Club. The Industrial Department was formed in 1912. This department organized a baseball team and several clubs: the Candlelight Club, which studied such topics as U. S. territorial possessions; Geneva Club; Tall Oaks Club; and the Michigan Beach Club were all part of the Industrial Department. These clubs continued into the twenties.

In 1914, the YWCA was about to embark on a building drive but stepped aside so the YMCA could raise funds to build at 4th and Wisconsin. Then World War I stopped plans for a YWCA building drive. The YWCA and its clubs focused their activities on supporting the war effort. In response to an appeal from the War Department, YWCAs across the country, including Racine, began holding Sunday afternoon parties for “the men in uniform.”

The YWCA of Racine expanded further during these years, organizing a branch of the YWCA Girl Reserves. In October of 1918, the local paper reported “Young girls from 10 to 18 years of age will be interested to know that in the very near future Racine, through its YWCA, will have a branch of the Girl Reserves . . . The organization is partially military, consisting of companies and division and embracing various ranks for its members . . . This movement is being promoted by the National Girls’ War Work department.”

After WWI, the YWCA launched a building campaign and was able to purchase Guild Hall (at 312 - 7th Street), which was owned by St. Luke’s Church and is now the Professional Building. Subsequent remodeling of the building in 1921 allowed the YWCA to expand its presence in Racine, serving as an active community center for people of all ages.

During the 1920s, the YWCA cafeteria was a popular spot, frequented by students from nearby Racine High School. Courses and services now included household arts, leadership training, swimming, tennis, and basketball.

In 1932, the YWCA of Racine joined together with the local high schools, library, continuation school, ministerial association and the YMCA to form a “Leisure Time College.” Free classes were offered at the YWCA and YMCA to all high school graduates. A 1934 article about the new school stated that, whenever possible, unemployed teachers were being recruited for the program. All instructors were approved by the University of Wisconsin, and by March of 1933, 113 students had registered. Although courses originally met at both the YMCA and YWCA, by 1934 most were meeting exclusively at the YWCA.

During the 1930s, YWCA clubs were especially active. The Blue Triangle, Y-Wives, and the Golden Agers were all popular during the 30s.

The Blue Triangle Club, which began in 1924 with a membership of five, boasted 38 members by 1929. Its goal was to meet the needs of the business and professional “girls” of the YWCA. These “girls” were single, young, working women. At its 1929 Initiation Ceremony, held during a weekly dinner meeting, the Club welcomed eleven new members. Blue Triangle member Marjorie Heck described the club that evening as “an experience of friendship, fellowship, oneness, love, goodwill, an attitude of mind and heart supporting every worthy quality.” The Blue Triangle Club was a strong, vital part of the YWCA for many years, providing support and activities for young working women well into the 1960s, a time when the social norms of the country were changing at an astonishing rate. The Y-Wives, which was originally formed mainly from Blue Triangle members who got married, continued to meet at the YWCA through the 1970s.

Many courses and services were offered during the great economic depression of the 1930s. Room Registry Services would find safe, affordable housing for young women while the YWCA Employment Bureau and Information Services provided jobs and networking. Classes included swimming (using the pools at the YMCA and Racine College), modern dancing, tap, home economics, badminton, public speaking, etiquette, shorthand/dictation, correct speech, charm school, creative writing, introduction to psychology, and health.

The YWCA ran a summer camp in the 30s at Army Lake near Lake Bulah. Activities included archery, crafts, swimming, boating, hay rides, hiking, dramatics, volleyball, worship services and, of course, singing around the campfire.

In 1933, the Depression’s impact was felt when the cafeteria was forced to close. They continued to use it for meetings only. All YWCA clubs, in addition to their own activities, helped many needy families and children - especially during the holiday season. Club members from the Business and Industrial Department collected and created toys for children. In 1935, members of the Blue Triangle and Santa Claus Clubs started a doll library at the YWCA. It operated in the same manner as the Children’s Library, with children being allowed to borrow one doll and her wardrobe for a week. Over thirty dolls were provided by the clubs.

From the 30s into the 70s, the holiday season was always marked by the “Hanging of the Greens.” Each club would be responsible for decorating part of the building. The Hanging of the Greens was capped by a special ceremony that established cooperation and unity among YWCA members.

During WWII, the YWCA, with its usual adaptability, once again shifted its center of interest. Clubs now studied world affairs. In November of 1943, to meet the needs of the “swing-shifters”, the YWCA began offering morning swim and gym classes.  Girls acted as hostesses to visiting boys in service and performed Red Cross work. In the summer of 1944, the Girl Reserves and the Girl Scouts put in 3,000 hours harvesting onions, helping many farmers short on labor during the war. Post-war classes included marriage education, party planning, and homemaking.

The War Brides Club began in the forties and, after the war, changed its name to the Overseas Wives. It is sometimes confused with the Cosmopolitan Club, which had been a YWCA club since 1934. However, they were separate clubs, both with an international emphasis. The Overseas Wives Members of all YWCA clubs were expected to be YWCA members. Unfortunately, it was not until 1964 that local Catholic priests voted to allow Racine Catholics to join the YWCA, as it was viewed as a Protestant organization with its prayer services and Bible study classes. Therefore, some of the Overseas Wives who were Catholic were having difficulty meeting the requirement of YWCA membership. Eventually they split from the YWCA and joined the Cosmopolitan Association, an international club not to be confused with YWCA’s Cosmopolitan Club. The association offered a big advantage due to its size: it could charter planes, which enabled the overseas wives to visit their homelands.

The YWCA’s Cosmopolitan Club organized in 1934 with 25 charter members. The theme of the club was “Getting to Know You.” The Foreign Community Committee (eventually renamed the World Fellowship Committee) sent out invitations to women of various backgrounds. At one time or another, most nationalities were represented. Programs centered around civic affairs, travel, and a better understanding of the customs and traditions of various nationalities. Membership was open to any woman interested in the purposes of the club. The club marked its 30th anniversary in 1964 and, unfortunately, seems to have disbanded shortly thereafter.

In the spring of 1944, a drop-in lounge (called the Penthouse) opened at the YWCA, complete with a jukebox and game equipment. By December of 1944, Friday Fun Nights at the Penthouse had become popular with both boys and girls. Although the first Friday Fun Nights began in February of 1942, now with a lounge to call their own, the teen program reached a new level of success.

In June of 1946, the Girl Reserves changed their name to Y-Teens to include teenage boys. Several hundred boys were already registered at the YWCA, so this name change was needed to reflect the true makeup of the high school group. The Y-Teens were very active in the 40s, 50s and early 60s, sponsoring dances, conferences, special interest groups in arts and crafts, dramatics, sports, and many outdoor activities.

Also in June of 1946, the YWCA purchased property at 744 College Avenue. The drive for a new building had unofficially begun in 1943 when the Community chest (United Way) received a check for $75,000.00 from S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc., designated for the YWCA Building Fund.

In 1944, the president of the Community Chest and local industrialists were asked their views on the feasibility of a YWCA building campaign. Because of the Excess Profits Tax, the time was right for contributions even through the war made building impossible. In 1945, the Community Chest granted the YWCA’s request for a building campaign; however, local industrialists then asked the YWCA to postpone the campaign while they raised operating funds for a local hospital. Finally, in May of 1946, a building committee formed and considered the following architects: Fitzhugh Scott, Frank Hoffman, and Frank Lloyd Wright (commissioned by H. F. Johnson). They chose Fitzhugh Scott. The $350,000 needed was raised by the end of 1946. In 1947, a materials shortage postponed building.

By 1949, building costs had risen to $500,000 and then to $750,000. In 1951, the steel shortage remained and construction was banned by the government. Finally, in June of 1952, when the steel ban was lifted and the additional money raised, construction began. In October of 1953, the present YWCA building at 740 College Avenue was dedicated.

As the building’s brochure proclaimed, the vision had grown into reality. The difficult years of offering an athletic program with a small, thin-walled gymnasium and teaching swimming to 250 women and girls at off-site pools were over! The Association finally had a facility specifically designed to be a YWCA, complete with a natatorium, two gymnasiums and a coffee shop!

Courses in the 50s included: babysitter’s training; fitness; nutrition; furniture refinishing; book binding; and golf lessons. A Great Books club was co-sponsored by the Racine Public Library and the YWCA. In 1952, Y-Teens provided free babysitting so mothers could vote. In 1957, there was a reunion of 400 mothers who were graduates of the YWCA of Racine’s expectant mothers classes (with children from age three weeks to two years attending). In 1959, the Young Mothers Club was established for families with preschool children. The Women’s Forum Group, Newcomers Club and the Golden Agers began in the 1950s, with the latter two still active at the YWCA today. Although the Golden Agers Club was originally founded in 1952 by the YWCA Adult Department, the Women’s Civic Council took over sponsorship in 1954 with member organizations taking turns as hostesses but holding the luncheons at the YWCA.

On December 5, 1953, the YWCA chartered a bus to the Milwaukee Holiday Folk Fair, thus beginning a tradition of YWCA bus trips that continues to this day. In March of 1955, the YWCA announced a bus trip to Washington, DC to coincide with the cherry blossom time in the nation’s capital. On June 21, 1958, the YWCA Adult Department announced a series of bus trips, which included concerts at Ravinia and a matinee of “My Fair Lady” in Chicago. The YWCA trip program was about to take off. In October, the Adult Department announced a series of Town and Country Tours, including a theater trip to South Pacific and, by popular demand, another trip to My Fair Lady - both in Chicago. The Milwaukee Holiday Folk Fair was again one of the destinations, as it was to be for many years to come. YWCA tours ventured as far away as Hawaii. The YWCA trip program enjoyed continuing success throughout the sixties and seventies and most of the eighties. In 1987, the board decided to discontinue the Trips and Tours program. The annual Christmas trip to Chicago remained and in 1990 there was a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago to see the exhibition “Monet in the Nineties.” In 1993, the City of Racine stopped its Senior Trip program and the YWCA again went into the trip business. Trips and Tours is once again a vital and popular YWCA program.

In 1959, 30 acres of land (now River Bend) was purchased by the YWCA with donations from Walker Manufacturing, Western Printing, and the Johnson Foundation. In 1963, a pavilion was donated to 30 acres by the Hammes Foundation. In 1974, after many fund raising activities, the River Bend Lodge was built on the site and the YWCA River Bend Nature Center was created.

A shift away from the YWCA’s formerly strong religious emphasis was evident in 1964 when Racine Catholics were allowed (by a vote of local priests) to join the YWCA. Also in 1964, the YWCA Public Affairs Committee held a dinner meeting, open to the public, to discuss the problem of high school drop-outs. The speaker explained how she helped boys in Gary, Indiana, turn their knife-carrying street gang into a club and work on a job preparation course. She stressed that it is important to know about youth in order to help them.

The YWCA continued on its strong social service emphasis in 1964 with the sponsorship of the Divorced Mothers’ Self-Help Group. The group, with legal counsel from Julio Fornary, was particularly interested in helping mothers with child support difficulties, its ultimate goal being “to form a group which can be heard and which can act to help divorced mothers.” In June of 1965, Governor Knowles signed a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Manny Brown (D - Racine) permitting courts to assign a portion of a man’s wages for child support. The forums and letter-writing efforts sponsored by the Divorced Mothers’ Group were not in vain.

In 1968, the YWCA participated in the Professional Youth Leader Institute at Wingspread. The topic was the generation gap and how to meet the needs of young adults. The turbulent decade of the 1960s prompted a significant change in the focus of the YWCA of Racine as programming became more ecumenical, no longer adhering strictly to its Protestant roots, but reaching out to all faiths. And although social service had always been an integral part of the Association, it now began to take on a more urgent tone. Society was shifting and the YWCA responded.

The George Bray Center began as the Pink House, a YWCA social service project of the 1960s. In its early stages, the YWCA developers called it the Franklin Neighborhood Center, a name it reverted to after becoming an independent agency. For five months the program lacked a permanent base of operations, but finally rented a small pink cottage at 816 Tenth Street. The project grew out of a 1963 report by a Racine United committee, which recommended a two-year pilot project to extend the services of an existing group into a neighborhood needing its services. The YWCA was asked to extend its services, and it did - committing $8,000 per year for 1964 and 1965 and hiring two part-time employees to serve as co-directors.

YWCA courses of the 60s included: understanding your teenager; duplicate bridge; creative dramatics; astrology; comparative religions; swimming; lifesaving; drop-in roller skating; ballet; judo; babysitting; and Day Camp at Thirty Acres (later to become River Bend). Maturity and Me was an annual series for teenage girls with weekly discussions headed by social workers, nurses, and pastors. The sessions were offered at the YWCA and at the Pink House.

The YWCA swim team, organized in 1965, won the State YWCA championship in 1971. For the HPER (Health, Physical Education, and Recreation), 1971 marked the beginning of a period of expansion and innovation that continues to this day. Today’s Fitness Center began in 1971 as the Ship Shape Shop, a project initiated by Mary Lou Hill and Carol Lenz. Josie Janesky became the coordinator in 1972 and took it from a room with some mats and a few pieces of equipment to a fully equipped fitness facility. In 1989, the Fitness Center received an award from the Wisconsin Council of YWCAs for its progressive Circuit Weight Training Program. Another innovation of this time was the drop-in aerobic exercise program. The YWCA of Racine was on the cutting edge of this new exercise trend as the sign-up calisthenics classes of the past gave way to the more flexible drop-in scheduling preferred by a growing number of working women.

The YWCA of Racine continued its pioneering spirit in 1973, holding workshops on sex bias in schools with UW Parkside. The first YWCA car clinic was held in 1973. In 1974, in cooperation with Children’s Services, the YWCA sponsored Mothers United, a group for unwed mothers, a precursor to the Teen Parenting Program which began in 1987. The Women’s Resource Center also began as a YWCA program in the 70s, originally called the Women’s Center. Racine Childcare Resource and Referral began as a YWCA program in 1988. The Y-Tot preschool began in the 50s and is still going strong today. The Children’s Education Department has expanded, offering before and after school care to children at local grade schools.

Courses in the seventies included: folk guitar; tie-dye; modern dance; trim teens; tennis; creative dramatics; babysitting; yoga; macramé; assertiveness training; contemporary feminine literature; and self-defense. The 7-10 Club, which began in the sixties, was a popular Wednesday evening of exercise, volleyball, ping pong, billiards, and swimming, followed by a social hour with refreshments. The fee was 75 cents.

In the 80s, River Bend expanded its commitment to environmental education, providing programs for school children and the public and encouraging a sense of relationship with the natural world. Nighttime programs, such as Full Moon Walks and Night Watchers, are held at various times of the year. Cross-country skiing continued to be a popular winter activity at River Bend.

In 1984, the first YWCA Holiday Village was held to raise funds for equipment purchases. This annual event has helped the YWCA immensely by enabling us to purchase computers and program equipment.

In 1988, the First Annual Women of Distinction Awards Luncheon was held to recognize women who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in their professional and personal endeavors.

Although the YWCA continued to offer courses specifically for teenagers in the 1970s, Racine’s Y-Teens disbanded in 1972. It was not until 1989 that another formal program for teens began. PACT (Peer Approach Counseling by Teens) leaders provided informational counseling on the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases. PACT members sponsor social activities such as dances, basketball, and a drop-in teen room at the YWCA.

Swimming and exercise classes, as well as our fully-equipped fitness center, continue to be popular and our main source of income. Twenty percent of our funding comes from United Way, supplemented by annual donations from individuals and corporations. The Board of Managers is now a Board of Directors, numbering 23 instead of the original 18. Although the YWCA now has a professional paid staff, volunteers continue to be vital to the success of the YWCA.

The YWCA has provided a century of service and enrichment to the Racine community through the support of membership and the generosity of its contributors and volunteers. The Association has grown and changed with society and its history clearly shows 100 years of women in action.