"It is reported that the first Young Men's Christian Association in the United States was founded in 1851 by a group of evangelicals from several Boston churches who modeled it on the original YMCA established in London in 1844. This new organization offered a safe gathering place, opportunities for socializing, bible study classes and prayer meetings to young men who flocked to the cities during the industrial revolution. During the late 1870s and early 1880s, the Y's first physical education instructor, Robert J. Roberts, created the first fitness movement in American through his new exercise program for 'bodybuilding', a phrase he coined. Classes utilized exercise drills, wooden dumbbells, 'Indian Clubs', and heavy medicine balls, eventually leading to the introduction of basketball in at [sic] the Y's Springfield College in 1891, volleyball at the Holyoke YMCA in 1895, and racquetball in 1950. Roberts went on to start the Leaders Corps in 1884 to select and train physical education instructors. The YMCA's famous inverted red triangle symbolized the unity of 'body, mind, spirit.' The letters, YMCA across the logo, were added after 1917. The Wakefield YMCA was established on February 12, 1902. After the Emerson Shoe factory ceased operations in the early 1900s, the organization purchased the site at the corner of Main Street and Yale Avenue. The cornerstone was laid on September 16, 1908 and the building opened on April 7, 1909." Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2011 Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Historical Society.
