YMCA on Germantown Avenue, east side below Haines Street
Campbell Collection (Compiled by Jane Campbell, circa 1900-1910), vol. 33, pp. 147-152
Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Included with the newspaper clippings are photographs of the YMCA as it stood in 1911 and of the corner of NE corner of Haines and Germantown looking toward the YMCA building then standing. Also included are an architect's rendering of the proposed YMCA complex and a sketch of the original building of Germantown's Methodist Church (built 1804) on Haines Street.

Text of newspaper clipping, February 10, 1911:

"Preparatory to a wide extension of its work, with its share of the million dollar fund recently raised in Philadelphia, the Germantown Young Men's Christian Association has arranged to buy several valuable adjoining properties.

"On Monday evening the board of managers of the association decided to exercise an option held on the property of John McNeill, Germantown avenue and Haines street, now occupied by a grocery store. At the rear this adjoins the Coulston property, which the association has owned for some years and on which are an old stone building occupied as a feed store and a three-story brick structure occupied as a real estate office and living apartments.

"It is also likely that the one intervening property on the Germantown avenue front between the Coulston and the McNeill property will shortly pass into the ownership of the association. This is now occupied by a saloon.

"Besides this Germantown avenue frontage, the association has also bought from Winona Council, Junior Order United American Mechanics, a property on Haines street on which John Randall's auction house is now situated.

"This property adjoins the grounds of the association. The tract will be utilized to make the outdoor gymnasium more efficient and to provide a playground for the children of the neighborhood. The outdoor gymnasium of the association has been an important feature of its work for some years, and, though well equipped, its resources have been taxed by the large demands made upon it.....

"The site acquired on Haines street has an interesting history. It was there that the first Methodist Church in Germantown was built, in 1804. This was a one-and-half story stone structure. In 1823 the congregation built another church a short distance further east on Haines street, and this in turn was succeeded by the brick building which is now the Alfred G. Harmer Public School, the congregation abandoning this site for that which the church now occupies, at Germantown avenue and High street."

Back to the page for the YMCA or for the original Methodist Church.


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