YWCA (Salt Lake City, Utah)

Salt Lake City Chapter was chartered in 1906. In 1909 the YWCA found its first home in the Keysor house, but moved in 1912 to its present location in the former Gordon Academy. Today the Y serves as a correctional half-way house, shelter for battered women, and home for independent women. The building was remodeled in 1956 to accomodate a wider range of activities.

From the description of Records, 1918-1977. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122631273

The Young Women's Christian Association was started in 1855 in London, England. Mrs. Arthur Kinnaird founded the North London Home, or General Females Training Institute, as a home for nurses returning from the Crimean War. The Industrial Revolution prompted Emma Robarts to open the Prayer Union for Women and Girls at the same time. By 1859 these two groups merged under the name of Young Women's Christian Association. The first United States group was formed in New York City in 1858, known as the Ladies' Christian Association. The full title, Young Women's Christian Association, was first used in the United States in Boston in 1866.

In 1906, the national board of the Y.W.C.A. accepted the Salt Lake City Y.W.C.A. as a charter member, and the first national convention was held in Salt Lake City. The first president of the local Y.W.C.A. was Mary Willis Critchlow. By 1907 the Salt Lake City Y.W.C.A. was providing educational classes, club rooms, an employment bureau, and a lunch room in the Brooks Arcade Building. In 1909 the womens' residence was established in the old Keyser Home. The Y.W.C.A. moved in 1912 to its present location at 322 E. Third South. The building had been the Gordon Academy, organized in 1878, and housed the Salt Lake College at the time of its purchase by the Y.W.C.A. Today the Salt Lake City Y.W.C.A. residence serves as a correctional half-way house, a shelter for battered women and their children, and a home for independent women.

The Y.W.C.A. is the largest international membership organization for women and girls that provides services and programs. The Y.W.C.A. is open to all economic, occupational, racial, religious, cultural backgrounds, and all age groups. It is a volunteer agency with an elected board of directors representing its members. The Salt Lake City Chapter of the Y.W.C.A. has been maintained throughout the years by contributions from businesses and individuals, and the United Fund (now United Way.)

The Y.W.C.A. Statement of Purpose, adopted in 1973, states: We recognize that many women and girls in search of new skills and experiences turn to the Y.W.C.A. This may lead them to become involved in educational classes, HPER activities, residential services, clubs, special events and other program opportunities. These programs have within them the potential to foster new understandings, to help individuals acquire vocational and leisure time skills, to be fully themselves and to develop their full potentialities as persons, secure in themselves and capable of contributing in an association that is truly pluralistic. The building of deeper relationships and the appreciation of others is fostered in all that we do when participants are helped to join in the struggle for peace, freedom, justice and dignity for all people.

From the guide to the Young Women's Christian Association records, 1911-1992, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)