The first meeting: On April 29, 1869 some of Aurora's farsighted men sat down in the homely office of a Justice of the Peace on Broadway and laid the groundwork for the YMCA that Aurora has today.

Squire David Iliff, who led court in this room when the need arose, and sold real estate and insurance there in between, was the host. His office was at 22 South Broadway, where the Sencenbaugh store has long since stood.

The founder of Aurora, Samuel McCarthy , was there and so were men like Daniel Valentine, Benjamin Hackney, O.B. Kickerbocker, Re. Thomas Galt, Z. Squires, Rev. T.N. Haskell, D.L. Pike, Rev. Leins, and 30 more.

Kerosene lamps lit the room. Down in the basement of the building. Aurora's largest saloon and billiard parlor was holding forth and a dance was in progress on the floor above the Squire's office.

These men met to establish what they felt was a basic need, a free Christian reading room "to guard the young men form the evil influences that surround them in our city."

D.L. Demorest, superintendent of the Aurora Silver Plate factory, was chairman of that first meeting. I. J. Allen of the CB & Q was secretary, and H.W. Hardy , furniture man and undertaker, was the man who moved that the organization be known as "The Young Men's Christian Association of Aurora."

No doubt the founders were jubilant - they had 37 of the town's most outstanding businessmen at their first meeting. They went a head - on May 15 they met at the old frame First Methodist church and elected Prof. Theodore H. Hazeltine of the Jennings Seminary faculty as their first president.

They had more meetings in the summer and fall and in December a committee reported that Joseph G. Stolp was willing to give the Association a lot on the island if the group would erect a brick building on it.

The First YMCA facility: They then went to work. Committees were formed to raise the $9,000 needed to construct the YMCA facility. Douglas & Waterhouse Aurora builders were given the contract for a building on the lot Stolp offered on the north side of Fox Street.

By early 1871 the building was finished and furnished - the first YMCA in Illinois to build its own home and the fifth in the world.

For many years the reading room was the YMCA's primary function, just as the founders had outlined. It was open to "any man of moral good character, without regard to his religious belief." The reading room on Fox Street was open daily from 2 to 10 PM and on Sunday from 2 to 5 PM.

Then in 1888 came a new gym to the facility. It was a new thing to Aurora. A gymnasium was practically unheard of. Because of the curiosity, it attracted many young men to membership.

In the previous 17 years of the YMCA's growth, no one had thought of athletics as an addition to the Christian reading room. Someone whose name has been lost over time, suggested that he basement be remodeled so it could be used for the training of young bodies as well as their minds.

A barbershop had been in the basement once, a laundry at another time. In 1888 the officers decided to lower the basement floor for extra height. Then they equipped their new gym with chest, intercoastal neck pulleys, vertical bars, punch bag, iron dumb bells, Lockers were available for rental at $1 a year and members were required when exercising to wear slippers, without heels or pegs.

The year 1888 also saw the YMCA install: two bathrooms- Two six feet tubs and two stationary basins supplied with hot and cold water are free for use of all who hold full membership tickets.

Once the idea of sport and exercise caught in, the YMCA gym was a popular spot - a source of real growth for he YMCA. And soon it was clear that the original building wasn't going to be big enough for everybody.

Planning began then - they didn't want to lose sight of the original Christian concept with its free reading room and worthwhile meetings, talks and programs, but it was clear that athletics were going to be bigger and bigger part of the Y's future.

The Second Facility: The original Aurora "Y" building was bursting at the seams long before the turn of the century, with the interest in athletic programs expanding rapidly and the study programs becoming community activities.

By 1900, it was clear that the program could not expand any more without bigger quarters. By 1906, it was plain that Aurora was ready to help in an expansion program and at a big civic banquet the plan for a new YMCA facility was broached.

The time was ripe, a committee reported at the banquet, and before the end of the dinner was ended, $15,000 of the projected $35,000 needed was raised. The building committee was formed with leadership from Ryburn W. Merce, C. S. Kilbourne, H. L. Mc Wethy and W. W. Stephens. They won unanimous support from the community and a 30-day capital campaign to raise $85,000 was launched. A large clock face was placed on the campaign headquarters in Hotel Evan's and every time $1,000 was raised, factory whistles al over town sounded and the clock hand moved forward.

At the end of 30 days, $90,000 was raised!

Part of the campaign was close cooperation with the YWCA, and another $60,000 was raised for the YWCA in the next 20 days. A letter from then YWCA General Secretary Rachel Jones to YMCA leadership assured the building drive cooperation and support for association cooperation.

Exhilarated by the success of the building campaign, YMCA board sold the old building and purchased a lot at the southeast corner of East Downer Place (Fox Street) and LaSalle Street known as the Yeoman property in May 1907 for $25,000 and broke ground for a new structure in October 1907. The building contract was awarded to John MacKimmie of Aurora for $46,884 with construction ending near the end of 1908. The cornerstone was laid on May 3, and the building completed before the end of the year.

Charles S. Kilbourne was elected president of the "Y" during the year the new building was being put up and continued as its president until 1927, when he died shortly after his re-election to the office.

Once open, the new "Y" offered facilities to men and boys never before found in Aurora. The old "Y" had a gym of sorts but the new one had a bid one, 40 x 80 feet, with the most modern equipment and a running track above it on the balcony level.

Aurora Gets its 1^st Indoor Pool: A swimming pool - first big indoor pool in Aurora - measured 60 feet long and 16 feet wide, ranging from three and a half to eight feet deep. Boys and men could learn to swim year-round or improve their swimming between summer outings.

The main entrance was on Fox Street (now East Downer Place) with a roomy lobby, offices, reading room, billiard room and entrance to the gym grouped around the central desk. Because of the pitch of the Fox street hill, this entrance was actually on second floor level.

The Boy's Department occupied eight rooms on the first floor, with its own entrance on LaSalle Street. Adjoining was the swimming pool, lighted by a skylight and three bowling alleys, plus dressing rooms, baths and supervisors' offices.

The third floor, center of the most of the non-athletic educational activities of the "Y," had a large lecture room that could be divided or used as a banquet room, a Bible Study clubroom, a Camera clubroom with darkroom adjoining, and two parlors. Fourth and fifth floors were given over to 50 dormitory rooms for young men; the new building made it possible to offer housing to men, most of them new to the city, where they might share their interests with others in athletics, Bible study, educational work, and special-interest clubs.

As an inducement to young men to live there, the new 1908 "Y" proudly proclaimed it was "the nearest-to-fireproof building in the city," had an electric call bell system, a house telephone, steam heat, and electric lights - in addition to all the features of a modern club.

The new athletic interest was not confined to the "Y" building - in August of 1913, the "Y" sponsored a mile swim in the Fox River (long before river pollution was heard of) and enough interest stirred to make it an annual event.

That same year, the "Y" established a factory basketball tournament and records of those days show that the bowling alleys were in almost constant use during the evening. "The young ladies of the YWCA," the reports says, "are using the alleys Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, paying the same rate as our members."

One of the Aurora "Y's" biggest ventures, the Learn-to-Swim campaign, was begun shortly after the opening of the "Y" swimming pool; a 1915 report says that this was the campaign's biggest to that date and about a hundred people had learned to swim that year.

In the 1920's, some of the YMCA's biggest programs got their start - tennis was popular, with participation in Kane County tournaments; In 1923, the Aurora "Y" volleyball team won second place in a national tournament in Chicago. There was also, at first, one handball court installed and when it proved so popular a second was put in. Mike Frass will long be remembered as the "Mr. Handball" of those days.

One of the men who helped make the YMCA a significant force in the city as a center of god living and wholesome activity include Charles S. Kilbourne, who served as president of the "Y" form the time the 1908 building was occupied until his death in 1927.

As it became more and more apparent that the 1908 building was being outgrown and plans began shaping up for an all-new building project, James H. Critton served as president from 1950-51 and Malcolm L. Jones through the difficult years of actual building and moving, from 1952 to 1962.

In the 1940's, members and leaders began talking about the possibility of a new and larger building to house the activities the crowded the Fox and LaSalle Street structure to capacity, a building that would allow an expanded program to take in the whole community.

Plans for the Current Facility begin: Through gifts and purchases, the YMCA acquired part of the property at West Galena Blvd, and Oak Ave. where the Improvement Savings and Loan Association building now stands. In the early 1950's plans were begun for a building on this site, even though not all of the property had been acquired, and the campaign got as far as determining that such a building would cost $1,265,038 without dormitory space.

It was decided in mid-campaign that the projected building would be too small within a short time to justify the investment, that there was no room for future expansion, and that the location would fail to serve the best needs of the community.

Col. Ira C. Copley had given the City of Aurora a valuable piece of property at the southeast corner of Garfield Ave. and View Street for possible use as a municipal building site.

With city plans dragging, in 1954 the "Y" Board of Directors asked the City of Aurora to donate the Copley gift to the YMCA, but legal counsel advised this could not be done. Finally, the City determined officially it had no use for the site and offered it to the highest bidder.

The YMCA's bid of $25,000 was accepted in June, 1954 and the Kane County Title Company and the Chicago Title and Trust Company guaranteed the validity of the title for one million dollars. In December, 1954 Architect Bertran A Weber, of Chicago, was authorized to make working drawings. In November 1955 construction bids were being called for.

Building planning was carried on to the accompaniment of legal suits by the late Mayor Paul Egan and Harry Stoner of the then Stoner Manufacturing Company that the "Y" had no right to the property. None of the suits was successful though twice taken to the Supreme Court.

President Malcolm L Jones and the "Y" Board signed a building contract with the Arnold Lies Company of Aurora, the general contractor, in March of 1956. Ground was broken on April, amid the howls of all of the boys on the Westside who declared that the best sled and toboggan hill in town was being taken from them. The cornerstone was laid in October 1957.

Malcolm Jones served as president form 1952 through 1962, during all of the difficult years of planning, financing, and achieving the new building. He had grown up in the Aurora "Y", with roots going back to the original "Y" building where his father, Milton D. Jones, as a young man had been the first assistant general secretary.

The land construction, equipment, furnishings and minor items were $2,532,780. Of this figure, $2,163,784 was for building costs; $208,940 for all furnishings; and $160,056 for land, sewer, insurance, interest, shrinkage, and contingencies.

Current YMCA Facility Dedicated: May 18, 1958 saw the new building completed, occupied, and dedicated. The building committee who saw the project through to completion included James H. Critton, chairman, and Walker Brandt, Ross Bergman, Paul Daley, Karl P. Grube, George Peters, and C.T. Ward.

Charles Y. Freeman, one of the most beloved community-minded men to serve the "Y", was General Secretary at the time the 1958 building was ready for occupancy. He had come to Aurora as General Secretary in 1953, conceived and fostered many of the Y's" new programs over the many years, and served until his untimely death in 1964.

The bright new plant included a competition sized. Olympic sized. swimming pool 29 feet wide by 75 feet long and 12 feet deep at the deepest point with one-meter and three-meter diving boards. With this impressive pool is one for teaching beginners, 20 by 20 feet and 36 inches deep, with folding doors to separate if from the main pool.

A huge new gymnasium, 70 x 90 feet in size and designed for closing off into two smaller units, greeted visitors on Dedication Day. Three handball courts, one a "glass court" which was the scene of the televised 1958 World Championship matches, for the first time offered a spectator area with seats for 500.

The best part of the whole new structure was its ability to serve members and the community. The 1908 "Y" had a capacity of some 1,700 members the new one was built to serve 4,000 to 5,000 boys, men, and family groups.

For the first 14 years, the new facility provided numerous program opportunities for the community. As in past Y facilities, the need for additional program space. In 1972 a group of leaders began a campaign to add new racquetball courts to the YMCA facility. The new courts would add to the three courts originally constructed. At the time, racquetball and handball programming was high. A key group of $500 Club members signed up to support the project. In exchange for a $500 gift, club members were given free court use and preferred court use.

In 1974 a group of swim parents formed a committee to add competitive pool to the facility. Through a generous gift from the Carnes family an eight lane shallow pool was added to the southwest side of the facility along View Street. The new pool hosted a number of local and state competitive swim meets through 1992.

In the early 1980's the YMCA board of directors deemed the 3 floors of residence in need of change from single resident occupancy for men and formed a partnership with the Waubonsee College "Whip Program" (Waubonsee Hearing Impaired Program). The housing for the hearing impaired utilized the top three floors through 1989 when dwindling, enrolment forced the program to end.

Long time YMCA Executive Director, Tim Rusch retired in 1982 after serving 27 years of service (18 of which were as executive director) at the YMCA. Replacing Tim was a big task for the Board; it had been 18 years since its last CEO hiring. In it's search, the YMCA hired Jim Rhoades, the former YMCA director of the Jerusalem YMCA.

1982 also marked the year of a facility renovation campaign. Frank Voris, then board president, led the way for the YMCA to raise $155,000. With the funds, the President's Pool received a face-lift with new paint.

After seven years of service, in 1989 Jim Rhoades retired. Felix Mattlock became the Executive Director. In 1988, an electrical outage at the YMCA facility caused a flood in the basement damaging all electrical and boiler\heating systems. The YMCA was closed for over a month. It was during this period that the YMCA faced a number of facility challenges, which ultimately caused the membership of the YMCA to steadily decline. A lack of funding towards depreciation to upkeep the facility and a number of other factors led to the resignation of Felix Mattlock and the hiring of Judy Ellertson as interim director in 1992.

Faced with membership at an all time low of 1,200, Judy and a bare bones staff held the Y together while a group of committed community leaders met to save the YMCA from closing.

YMCA Recovery Plan: In early 1993 a group of Community Leaders, led by Ken Lindgren & John McKee formed a "Save the Y" team. Funds were needed to satisfy a number of long overdue payables and make needed facility improvements.

A lead gift of $100,000 from Caterpillar, Oliver Construction forgave a payable of $86,000 and (4) $50,000 lead gifts were crucial to the campaign success. In addition, the United Way of Aurora Area voted to continue YMCA funding during recovery. In total, over $1.2 million in pledges and debt forgiveness was raised through the campaign. The success of the campaign kept the YMCA doors open and continued services to the community. The YMCA still faced an uphill challenge, low membership numbers, aging facility, 3 vacant floors of closed residence rooms, and a tarnished image due to fear of the YMCA closing its doors.

YMCA Becomes Social Service Mall: In 1994 the City of Aurora provided a grant to enable three social service agencies to move into the YMCA facility. Areas within the first and second floor would serve as a "social service mall".  Space was renovated to meet the needs of The Community Counseling - Candle - adult care program, Aurora Township Senior Services and Senior Services Associates, and Breaking Free. Breaking Free never did move into the Y facility, however.  In 1995 this space was eventually occupied by The Salvation Army Golden diners senior lunch program.

In September of 1994 the Aurora Family YMCA hired Rob Wilkinson as the Executive Director. Wilkinson had previously been CEO of the Mattoon, IL YMCA for six years.

In 1995 the City of Aurora approved a $500,000 grant to YMCA and YWCA to upgrade facilities. With the funding, the YMCA made facility renovation repairs to a number of infrastructure needs, including boiler repairs and air conditioning repairs.

In 1996, after conducting member and neighbor focus group meetings, the YMCA board of directors entered into a partnership with Wil-Freds development to form Garfield Associates. Through this new partnership grant and tax credit applications were made to rehab the vacant residence floors of the YMCA into affordable senior apartments. Construction began on the approved project in 1997 at a cost of $2.6 million. Renovation to gut all existing walls and create a new elevator took most of 1997. Occupancy permits were issued in December of 1997 and the first tenants moved in January of 1998.

With the continual emphasis on facility renovations and improvements, the YMCA membership continued to grow. Programs are as strong as ever, with nearly 1,800 local second graders participating in swim lessons annually, over 1,200 youth participating in youth sports programs, summer camp serving over 700 youth each summer, youth leaders club educating 35 teen on community service, and numerous other youth, adult, family and senior programs offered annually.

Through the entire recovery period from 1993 on, the YMCA leadership annually implemented a strategic long-range plan. Part of this plan each year was the need to increase collaboration with other non-profit agencies and area YMCA's. Through this emphasis, the YMCA has partnered with Big Brother Big Sisters to provide littles with YMCA membership, partnered with the Fox valley Park District to jointly provide youth basketball and with Aurora University to provide undergraduate students who wish to gain YMCA work experiences in conjunction with Aurora Universities YMCA undergraduate degree program.

As the leadership of the YMCA looked towards the new millennium, the YMCA faced a number of challenges:

• Aging facility
• Non Y2K compliant computer systems
• Meeting the growing program needs of the community
• Meeting the needs of east side residents
• Need for increased staff
• Need for more efficiency

These are just a few of the challenges the YMCA faced. To ensure YMCA programs, services and facilities in Aurora and to meet the expanding needs of the area, the YMCA Board of Directors passed a resolution in October of 1998 to study the benefits associated with consolidating operations with the Naperville YMCA.

This study, which was completed by June 30, 1999, both YMCA's determined that there are cost savings, improved services and better positioning of the YMCA as a whole in Kane and DuPage counties.

As we look back on 130 years, the Aurora Family YMCA has gone through a number of transformations from different facilities, leaders and program initiatives. The leadership's goal with this consolidation effort was to ensure the existence of the YMCA 's programs and services to the Aurora area for the next 130 years, and to expand YMCA programs and services to meet the growing and changing needs of Aurora.