Historic Former Wabash YMCA to be Restored Again
The Renaissance Collaborative, Inc. (TRC) is to receive $436,375 to restore the historic recreational portion of the former Wabash YMCA through an African American Civil Rights grant, provided by the Historic Preservation Fund, as administered by the National Park Service, Department of Interior. The Wabash Y is one of only two projects in the Midwest funded in this cycle and the only such project in Illinois.
Photo Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
TRC was founded in 1992 by four Bronzeville Churches to save this landmark building from demolition and convert it into housing for the homeless and a center for community programs. After a nearly decade-long $11 million capital campaign, the building was fully restored and reopened in 2000. After 23 years of continuous use, the building is in dire need of another refresh.
During the initial restoration the building was divided into two distinct sections with separate entrances, one residential and the other recreational. The residential portion of the building will be renovated under the Second Component of the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD2), a federal program that will ensure affordability of the apartments for another 15 years. The funds from this grant will cover the costs to renovate the historic recreational portion of the building which does not qualify for the RAD2 funding.
Repairs are slated to begin this August and will include: the conservation of a 1936 mural entitled "Mind, Body, Spirit" painted by famed Harlem Renaissance artist William Edouard Scott; restoration of the basketball floor which was used by the original Harlem Globetrotters; repairs to the meeting spaces that spawned many social movements including Black History Month; and repairs to the pool where numerous African Americans learned to swim. A swim team has committed to put the pool back to use for the first time since the YMCA vacated the building in 2015.
The Wabash Y was the first home in the North for thousands of African American men during the Great Migration who had moved from the South seeking economic opportunity and a reprieve from racial discrimination. For the first half of the 20th Century, the Wabash YMCA served as the heart of social and economic progress for African Americans in Chicago, providing housing, job training, meeting spaces, and recreational facilities. Black History Month has its origins at the Wabash Y as the site where Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (1915) and announced the first Negro History Week (1926). The building’s significance as an African American community center and affiliation with the Great Migration has resulted in city, state, and national historic landmark recognition.
Ongoing research is being conducted on the Wabash Y’s history. To share your own stories and photos of the Wabash Y to add to the archival collection, contact Tara Balcerzak at tbalcerzak@trcwabash.org. The Renaissance Collaborative, Inc. (TRC) is pausing its monthly guided historical tours during the restoration. Those interested in seeing the site should plan to visit during Open House Chicago, October 14-15 between 9-5 pm.
