1844 George Williams, in London, England, took in young poor boys from the street, fed them, and taught them how to read using the Bible. He formed Bible Study groups. He gave them hope for a decent and honorable Christian life. He was knighted in 1894 by Queen Victoria for his work.

1851 Thomas V. Sullivan, a retired Canadian sea-whaling captain, started the YMCA in the USA in Boston, Massachusetts.

1853 A Black American, Anthony Bowen, started a YMCA in Washington, D.C.

1856 First "Health and Fitness" program defined and started at the Springfield, Massachusetts, YMCA. Halls of Health were developed to overcome "weak, nervous, and physically unsound" individuals.

1863 First civilian organization to work with the military in the USA - both the north and the south. YMCAs in Chicago and New York raised regiments from their memberships. The Chicago YMCA music director wrote the songs "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching" and "The Battle Cry of Freedom" for the Union armies.

1864 The YMCA became the first non-sectarian organization to place chapels in its facilities.

1866 The New York City YMCA added a physical component to its previous program of spiritual, intellectual and social work.  The resulting program was referred to as "four-fold".

1869 Opened gymnasiums in all major cities using old cannon balls for exercises.

1872 Cleveland, Ohio: Railroad YMCAs were built to improve conditions for railroad workers.

1879 Thomas Wakeman, a Sioux Indian, organized a Native American YMCA in Flandreau, Dakota Territory.

1881 Boston YMCA's Robert Roberts coined the term "Bodybuilding" and developed the exercise classes that led to today's fitness workouts.

1884 YMCA instituted "staff training" at the Midwest Training Institute (later named George Williams College, on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin).

1885 YMCA Director Sumner Dudley took a small group of boys from the Newburgh (NY) YMCA for a one-week camping adventure at nearby Orange Lake (NY) in 1885. Then, beginning in 1886, and through the summer of 1890, this YMCA camp continued operation at Lake Wawayanda, in northern New Jersey. In the summer of 1891, the camp was moved to Westport, on Lake Champlain (NY), where it continues to operate today. Camping was organized so youth could "learn about YMCA, God, themselves and others in God's great outdoors."

1885 The YMCA initiated Saturday afternoons and Sundays off for all industrial workers in America and Europe.

1885 YMCA opened its first indoor swimming pool (called a swimming bath) in Brooklyn, New York. Began work in "Water Safety" this year.

1885 YMCA's School for Christian Workers opened in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1890 changed its name to the International YMCA Training School, and later renamed to Springfield College.

1886 Ellen Brown hired as first employee for boys' work; she was the first female YMCA employee. (Today, over 60% of the YMCA staff are female.)

1887 The International Committee established a physical education department to coordinate and standardize this work in the YMCAs of North America.

1888 William Hunton became the first Black Executive Director of a YMCA, in Norfolk, Virginia.

1889 In Chapman, Kansas, first high school boy's club was organized. It was called HI-Y.

1889 Foreign work, later called World Service, began when Canadian and U.S. YMCA's sent employees to India and Japan.

1889 Springfield College's Physical Director, Luther Gulick, proposed the triangle as a symbol of Christian personality -- Spirit, Mind, Body.

1891 YMCA Director James Naismith, working for Luther Gulick, invented basketball at Springfield College

1891 Luther Gulick invented water polo, first named water football.

1894 In the dedication address for the gymnasium of the Training School at Springfield College, noted American psychologist G. Stanley Hall endorsed "Muscular Christianity," a popular theology widespread in YMCAs which deemed physical health and robustness an essential element of Christian life.

1895 YMCA Director William G. Morgan, a Springfield College graduate, invented the sport of volleyball at the Holyoke, Massachusetts, YMCA.  Its purpose was to provide a fitness game for athletes no longer in their prime.  The games popularity today far exceeds its original audience.

1895 Charles Eastman, a Native American physician, became the first national YMCA employee for Indian work.

1895 Robert Roberts, a YMCA gymnast and promoter of Muscular Christianity, published the article "Bodily Exercise, a Christian Duty."

1895 The Latrobe YMCA, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, sponsored the first professional football teams by paying its players $10 per game. Proceeds from these games were used to pay for the team and to provide scholarships for the needy. First admitted pro player was John Brailer.

1897 The YMCA International Convention formally adopted the triangle-- representing the interrelationship of Spirit, Mind and Body in YMCA programs-- as the logo of the association in North America.  The triangle philosophy had been developed in the previous decade by YMCA physical educator Luther Gulick.

1900 YMCA handball players, wanting a more strenuous activity, invented racquetball.

1903 The YMCA operated the Colorado Health Farm, outside of Denver, for men with tuberculosis.

1906 YMCA launched the first "Learn to Swim" campaign with the goal of drown-proofing all American and European youth. Wrote first "Learn to Swim" rules and "Water Safety Rules". Wrote first "Lean to Swim" campaign and established systematic certification in Life Saving, Swimming and Aquatic instruction.

1908 Max Exner and John H. Gray, fraternal secretaries of the YMCA movement, went to China and India respectively, to pioneer Western-style physical education.

1909 Bucking the advise of the National YMCA, Peter E. Kroehler and other Naperville residents founded the Naperville YMCA. It basked in the glory of being the smallest community YMCA in the nation.

1910 YMCA Secretary Luther Gulick and wife Charlotte formed and started the Camp Fire Girls program.

1910 YMCA staff members played a key role in the development of the Boy Scouts of America. After Lord S.S. Baden-Powell and others started Scouting in 1897 in Britain, it spread to America, and many YMCAs here had Boy Scout programs around the turn of the century.

1910 YMCA Director and swim instructor, George Corsan, invented the "Crawl" stroke and taught America how to swim. A whole new dimension was given to progressive swimming by the YMCA during this time.

1914 YMCAs accomplished over 90% of the AEF welfare work during World War I.

1914 26,000 YMCA volunteers working in YMCA canteens during WWI and carried food and supplies to our soldiers.

1920 First Y's Men's Service Club organized in Toledo, Ohio.

1921 J. Elam Artz, vice president of the Dayton (Ohio) YMCA, started a "Come Back Club," which successfully encouraged members over the age of 50 to exercise daily in their homes-- a creative program that did not depend on Y facilities.

1924 Radio station KYW in Chicago became the first in the nation to broadcast daily morning exercises.  The Physical Education staff of the Chicago YMCA assisted in this program.

1926 In Richmond Heights, Missouri, the first father-son program was written by YMCA director Harold Keitner and his Ojiway Indian fishing guide, Joe Friday. The program was named "Y" - Indian Guides.

1936 YMCA Director Clement Duran began an intensive government education program for high school youth in New York state. The program is now called "Youth in Government". Auto inspections, litterbug fines, and pre-marital medical exams are a result of this program.

1942 YMCA Director Dr. John R. Mott formed the USO along with Jewish and Catholic organizations. In 1946 Dr. Mott was honored with a Nobel Peace Prize. The YMCA operated 646 USO units during WWII.

1952 YMCA cardiologists devise the first true running program, although YMCAs sported running tracks in their facilities for years.

1954 Bernard E. Empleton lead a group of laymen and staff of the Washington, D.C. association in developing a skin- and scuba-diving program for the YMCA.

1961 YMCA World Service leaders consulted with President Kennedy and Sargent Shriver to assist in establishing the Peace Corps.

1964 Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy wrote an article in Journal of Physical Education praising the YMCA's leadership role in the physical education movement.

1971 The YMCA movement's Urban Action Program and its National Drug Action Team published a manual on drug abuse prevention and treatment.

1972 After witnessing the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, over 1,000 YMCA professionals and volunteers went to the Republican Convention in Miami in order to abate the problems caused by dissenters in Chicago.

1973 Grace Reynolds, mother of a child with disabilities, lead an innovative YMCA program in aquatics activities for people with disabilities.

1976 YMCA launched a nationwide cardiovascular program.

1986 YMCA of the USA introduced the "YMCA Fitness Leaders" course, a standard program for the training and certifying of fitness classes.

1992 YMCAs conducted the first national YMCA Healthy Kids Day to encourage healthy development of youth.  This has become an annual event.

1994 The YMCA movement is 150 years young and continues to build strong kids, strong families and strong communities around the world.

2001 The YMCA celebrates 150 years in the USA.

2006 The YMCA introduces Activate America to address the growing obesity problem in the United States.