|
Y.M.C.A.
In 1869, a community committee, headed by James Beaver and Daniel Hastings, established the Bellefonte YMCA. It opened just 19 years after the first YMCA in the United States was opened in Boston in 1851. Bellefonte's YMCA is the third oldest YMCA in Pennsylvania.
During it's early years, the YMCA was located in different buildings. In March of 1903, the YMCA was reorganized and they acquired the John Irwin property at 125 E. High Street, across from the Andrew Curtin's home. In 1906, the Hugh McAlister Beaver Gymnasium was added. The gray stone building in the picture above is the old Irwin home and the gymnasium can be seen directly behind the original structure. In 1911, Margaret H. Wilson funded construction of the YMCA's first swimming pool.
Along with James Beaver, Daniel Hastings and many of Bellefonte's prominent citizens, one of the early supporters of the YMCA was James R. Hughes, Headmaster of the Bellefonte Academy. For many years, the Bellefonte Academy and Bellefonte High School basketball teams played their home games in the YMCA gymnasium.
The building pictured above were torn down and replaced with a new facility in 1957-58.
|
|
