About Us
A Brief History of the University YMCA
The YMCA at the University of Illinois was founded in 1873; just 6 years after the University began in 1867. The first President (Regent) of the University was a Baptist minister, John Milton Gregory. President Gregory led a daily chapel service that all the students were required to attend. But students wanted a religious organization of their own, and so began the YMCA at the U of I.
Three YMCAs were begun in Champaign-Urbana in 1873: The University YMCA, and one each in each town. The two town Ys later combined into the McKinley YMCA, now called the Champaign County YMCA.
The 1st University YMCA was located at Wright and Green Streets. In total, the University Y has had 5 different locations--all on Wright Street. One of the early buildings was at the corner of Wright and John; it is now called Illini Hall. Initially it housed 88 students and had an auditorium that could seat 250 students. It was also the first residence hall on UIUC campus. Eventually the building became too expensive to run so they had to sell the building to the University. In 1938 the University YMCA moved to its current building on the corner of Wright and Chalmers, in the heart of campus.
The University Y began with Bible studies and service projects. One was the "Student Handbook", later called the "I book". The Y provided this free service to students until 1955 when the I book was taken over by the University.
The University YMCA provided an employment service for students needing part-time work from 1900 until 1932, when the University took over the program. The University YMCA helped students find housing from the earliest years, and in 1908 provided the first Dormitory on campus for 88 U of I students in the Y building later purchased by the University and now known as Illini Hall.
In 1918, the University YMCA began organized service to International students. At that time there were 201 students from 31 countries. In 1968, the University took over the program, even hiring the Y staff person, John Price, to run the Program. Now there are over 5,000 international students at the U of I. The Campus Y continues to have cooperative programs for these students such as an international student reception each fall, and an international dinner each spring. I serve on the advisory committee for the Office of International Student Affairs.
Dump and Run is a huge recycling program done at the Y since 2002. We save all kinds of things from the dumpsters that students leaving town ordinarily throw away, store them over the summer, then sell them cheaply to new students and other community members in the fall: clothes, furniture, bikes, microwaves, TVs you name it, we have at least 3 of them! In the fall of 2004 we filled the UIUC Stock Pavilion with more then 4 semi-trailers of donated items that would have normally been sent to a landfill!
Lecture series at the Y such as Friday Forum and Know Your University, and special events add to the intellectual, ethical, religious and spiritual life on campus and in the community.
The Y also serves as the home to different student organizations focused on social justice and cultural identit programs. More information about these groups is available at our website.
We receive no money from the University budget and no tax money. We are a 501 (c3) non-profit organization and we exist solely from the donations of private individuals.