University YMCA · 1001 S. Wright St., Champaign, IL 61820

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Champaign-Urbana · since 1873

The history of the University YMCA

Since 1873, the University YMCA has developed campus and community leaders through dialogue, reflection and action. Search nearly a century of Friday Forums, sixteen years of Art @ the Y, and the programs, people and student groups behind them.

The 1939 Freshman Camp leadership planning group, posed outdoors at Camp Seymour

The leadership planning group for the 1939 Freshman Camp at Camp Seymour. The history of Freshman Camp →

Follow a thread

The same questions come back, decade after decade. Each thread gathers forums, exhibitions, milestones and student groups across the Y’s history.

Browse the collections

Students on a Friday Forum panel
Friday Forum
Every forum by season, with speakers, recordings and video
Art @ the Y
80 exhibitions in Murphy Gallery since 2010
Programs
Freshman Camp, Know Your University, Communiversity and more
People
Secretaries, directors and volunteers who shaped the Y
Amnesty International display board: Human Rights and Social Justice
Student Organizations
Groups that met, organized and found a home at the Y since 1969
The Chanticleer, the University YMCA student paper: “Ingalls New ‘Y’ Secretary”
History ↗
Our history, with the Y’s two published histories to read online
150th Anniversary
The 2023 celebration, and two time capsules to open in 2073

Our Building

The University YMCA building at 1001 S. Wright St., Champaign
1001 S. Wright St., since 1938
In 1924 the Y bought two faculty houses at Wright and Chalmers as the site for a home of its own. A building campaign stalled when the Depression hit, and a new drive succeeded in 1935. John R. Mott laid the cornerstone on Nov. 21, 1937, and the Y moved in the next year.
How we built it →

Faces of the Y

Open a drawer

One thing from the archive, picked at random. Keep pulling until something catches.

Help fill the gaps

On March 29, 1968, Michael Novak spoke at the Friday Forum. The Daily Illini never said about what.

This site is a work in progress. Were you there, or do you have a program, a photo or a flyer? Many records are still missing a title, a date or a face.

Share what you knowSee the 1968 record