YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) of Portland, Oregon, Archives - Archives West (orbiscascade.org) [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv26528]
The “Y” has their own five-page Institutional History.
“In March, 1868, Edward Quackenbush and William Wadhams held the first meeting of the Portland YMCA in the basement of the First Presbyterian Church. Quackenbush, along with E.J. Northrup, William Lair Hill, James Steel, and Dr. Rodney Glisan, all prominent Portland men, wrote up a constitution for the YMCA. By 1871, women were allowed to become members.
Early social and cultural activities at the YMCA included educational classes, a variety of lectures, mission meetings, musical entertainment, and theatrical events. The Portland YMCA continued to grow and programs soon extended to sports and aquatics as health and physical education gained popularity. Technical classes in automotive, plumbing, electrical crafts, and horticulture were also held at the Portland YMCA beginning in the early 1900s. By 1920, specific YMCA educational classes served to become a technical school called the Oregon Institute of Technology.
Today, the Portland area YMCA is known as the YMCA of Columbia-Willamette. It continues to be a vital community organization in which people of all ages can be physically and socially active within a safe and non-threatening environment.”
Per JD Chandler’s book “Hidden History of Portland, Oregon” page 169 The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) began in Portland The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) began in Portland in 1868 intending to provide a moral atmosphere for young men to exercise. As the influx of young men to the city increased, the YMCA began to offer lodging at its buildings on Southwest Fourth and Yamhill. In 1909, the organization moved into its new building two blocks away, and many men who worked downtown took up residence. William S. Ladd had been one of the founders of the YMCA in Portland, and it had always received the founders of the YMCA in Portland, and it had always received a great deal of support from the city’s establishment. In 1909, William M. Ladd became president of the YMCA Board. When the so-called Vice Clique of 1912 was exposed, along with its connection to the YMCA, the organization came under attack.”
Per David Grant Kohl’s book, A Curious and Peculiar People, page XV, “Significant gay gathering spots were concentrated around the bus depots. The YMCA was two blocks west from the stations on Taylor, and an area commonly known as “The Camp,” was 2 blocks east at Taylor and SW 3rd.”Then again on page 5, “The Vice Clique Scandal of 1912 November, the YMCA building on SW 6th was named as a site of questionable same-sex liaisons, and as the residence of four of the 68 liaisons, and suspects.
The YMCA movement began in London in 1844 and was first established in America in Boston in 1851. Portland’s YMCA, beginning in an upstairs room near the riverfront on 1st Street, eventually occupied an entire building. Per David Grant Kohl’s book, A Curious and Peculiar People, page 5, “originally in the Gilman Building near the riverfront. By 1909, a new facility was opened on SW 6th and Taylor, boasting meeting rooms, gymnastic facilities, the Parker Chapel, and hotel-like rooms which young men could rent for $1 per night, or by the month.”
There were three locations for the YMCA.
#1. SW 4th and Yamhill – 1868-1909 [David Grant Kohl cites 1st Street] [JD Chandler cites SW 4th and Yamhill]
#2. SW 3rd and Taylor - 1909-1910
# 3. SW 6th and Taylor – 1910-1977. It was constructed about 1908 and sat empty from 1972 until it was razed in 1977. [same block as Jackson Tower, later iHop restaurant].
Per https://www.ohs.org/museum/exhibits/lost-portland.cfm “When finished in 1909, it featured classrooms, laboratories, workshops, two gymnasiums, a handball court, swimming pool and residents for 200 men. In 1978, despite protests from City Commissioner Mildred Schwab, the building was demolished to make way for the Pacific First Federal Savings and Loan Association.”
Per the book, The Queerest Places [A Guide to Gay and Lesbian Historic Sites] by Paula Martinac 1997 – cites the following, “For help in compiling the Portland listings, many thanks to Tom Cook, president of the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest. For more sites associated with gay Portland, see “From Silence to Celebration! A guide to Portland’s Historic Gay Sites,” a publication of GLAPN. Don Horn reached out to Tom Cook, and he stated that the name of the document was changed to the GLAPN A Walking Tour of Downtown Portland: A Century of Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Historic Sites in June 1999. Per Paula’s book, she writes, “As in other cities across the country, Portland’s YMCA was a popular cruising spot during the first half of this century, particularly for soldiers and sailors. Two public ‘scandals’ over homosexual activity occurred here, one in 1912 and the other in 1951. Across the street from the Y, the Greyhound Bus Depot was also a gay pickup place.
Per the GLAPN - A Walking Tour of Downtown Portland: A Century of Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Historic Sites June 1999: The YMCA Building was erected in 1909 and was torn down in the 1970s after a turbulent history involving at least two public sex scandals. Gay historians have long known about the connection between urban YMCAs and the gay male community. John Wrathall, a University of Minnesota researcher published a thesis recently that examines the seemingly odd relationship between the development of male cruising at YMCA’s and the YMCA’s mission of developing Christian ideals among young men. He noted that for decades these two opposing developments (which he calls the” mind/body split”) existed side by side within the walls of YMCA residence halls across the country. In fact, he asserts that these YMCA buildings became virtual male whorehouses specifically because of the physical male culture that the Young Men’s Christian Association exemplified. In an interesting article published in The Journal of American History [The Silences Around Sexuality in Manuscript Collections, Vol. 79, No. 1, June 1992, pgs. 165-178] he gives evidence that some of the founders of the YMCA had significant homoerotic interests that they later attempted to hide.
Specific queer references to the Portland downtown YMCA are many. Shortly after the 1912 scandal, the city’s reaction to the knowledge that homosexuality was prevalent in its YMCA, is commented on by an observer of the hysteria
Surrounding Emma Goldman’s 1915 visit to Portland. (See entry under Turn Verein Hall). Writing in Mother Earth (dated 1915, month unknown), author George Edwards likened Portland’s fear of acknowledging the homosexuals living here to a Victorian lady who must not “show her legs in public.” He was one contemporary who was not at all surprised to find that the all-male environment of the YMCA would attract homosexual men. In our gay folklore, writer Robert McAlmon also made allusions to the Portland YMCA in his short story entitled “Miss Knight” published in Distinguished Air [1925], and recently re-issued in Miss Knight and Other Stories (University of W Mexico Press). Miss Knight, a popular drag queen revels her listeners with a story.
Did’ja ever hear of the Portland, Oregon Scandal? I wuz in it. I wuz at the YMCA-in drag you know-some out I had too, stars and spangles and jewels all over me, Mary. Whoops my dear, you must come over, ah come on, come over’a’ call on me some afternoon…I’d just come from the theatre-had shown my act there you know, and then the cops came in and pinched us, and them YMCA boys was scared stiff. They let me go because one of the plain clothes guys had seen my act at the theatre and I sez to him that I didn’t know nuthin’ about what kind of party it wuz, and had come there as a paid entertainer.
Discovered recently is a nine-page handwritten letter on YMCA stationery which was found in the manuscripts of the Oregon Social Hygiene Society [Mss. 54, Box 1, OHS), and which was apparently written in response to an officer of the Social Hygiene Society who was making inquiries about the YMCA at the time of the scandal. The author’s name was blotted out by marking pen, but the young man gives an interesting account of his introduction to sex information from friends during the course of his youth in the early 1900’s. Near the end of the letter, he talks specifically about the boys at the Portland YMCA who he describes as being “more or less corrupt.” One exception he noted, “nice young fellow-Harry Baker is later described to him as a “damn sissy!” [This Harry Baker is listed in the Portland City directory of 1912 as a “student” at the YMCA]. The letter writer goes on to mention “dirty stories in progress which would cease upon my approach.” On one occasion just before YMCA Sunday school class, the writer notes that “I followed a bunch of fellows out on the sidewalk…” where one of them “started relating the incidents of the night before, which by the way was very interesting to the rest of the fellows. I got so disgusted that I got my hat, and as I was leaving, this same fellow had the crust to take me by the hand and say that he was very sorry that I couldn’t stay for the sermon. The 1910 U.S. census reveals two vice scandal defendants then living at the YMCA-William H. Allen and George Birdseye, both salesmen of men’s furnishings at local department stores. A number of other residents appear to have held the Birdseye, both salesmen of men’s furnishings at local department stores. A number of other residents appear to have held the stereotypical “queer” occupations including store clerks, dry goods salesmen, artists, designers, and waiters.
Laurie Chilcote who lived in Portland in the 1950s recalls hearing the phrase, “having lunch at the YMCA” which was a euphemistic reference to going up to the building during the middle of the afternoon to have a private sexual meeting.
Per David Grant Kohl’s book, A Curious and Peculiar People, page 15 he states, “The YMCA reentered public awareness as a sexual depot in 1951 where nearly one hundred city’s supposedly best residents were ‘indulging in a modern Sodom and Gomorrah play.” The system for connecting me with boys of their favorite type was expedited using a card index system. The ‘male prostitutes on call’ were catalogued by age, price, and physical qualities. The index keeper supposedly lived in the adjoining YMCA. Many indictments let to time in the hossegow. Some of the accused committed suicide rather than be ‘found out’. Scores of boys were sent to reform school.
1910 northwest on SW 6th and Taylor. On the top right corner, you can read YM. [See Below Left] Another view [See Below Right] Check out: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_YMCA_building_-_Portland,_Oregon.jpg and https://www.ohs.org/museum/exhibits/lost-portland.cfm for photo credit.
It is not known if there was nude swimming or workouts here in Portland but for other YMCA’s it was customary. It is stated the reason for nude swimming is that officials from public health state that swimming pools especially indoor are prone to contamination by water-borne diseases. During the early developmental stages of filtration and chlorination, behavioral measures were also needed to keep the water clean. The health of swimmers could be monitored most easily by forbidding swimsuits, which often were a source of contamination due to cleanliness and fabric as at one time swimsuits were made out of wool. Photos of what it was like at the YMCA – nude swimming See Below.
Per https://www.frank-answers.com/frank-answers-about-swimming-naked-at-the-ymca/comment-page-2/ :
Because many urban boys were drowning, the Brooklyn, NY YMCA built an indoor swimming pool in 1885. Following the custom of men and boys swimming naked outdoors, the Y pools also required men and boys to swim naked. This was considered healthy, and manly, and it kept the primitive filters from clugging up with lint from cotton swimsuits that also impended swimming.
THE ARTICLE CONTINUED:
The American Public Health Association recommended showering and swimming naked indoor, at least for boys (the need of modesty for girls was recognized), in 1926, for health purposes. The last naked swimming recommendation from the APHA was in 1962. But many Ys, Boys Clubs, and schools continued the practice of swimming naked into the early 1970s. Local Y associations ended the practice when the Ys admitted women and girls into membership in the late 1960s/early 1970s.
And for Portland, Oregon:
As {John} Gustav-Wrathall pointed out, {in Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-sex Relations and the YMCA (University of Chicago Press, 1998} these conditions had the unintended consequence of setting up an environment for cruising by both young men who were coming to terms with their sexuality and older men who, as upstanding members of the YMCA and the community, volunteered to mentor the young men. There were a few scandals from time to time. The most devastating one to the Y’s reputation occurred at the Portland, Oregon YMCA in 1912. A police dragnet resulted in the arrest and indictment of over fifty members for indecent behavior, who turned out to be Protestant men of “high moral standards” in the community—leading business and professional men among them. The concern of the journalist who exposed the situation was the potential corruption of youth. But the Y’s leadership emphasized that the men and boys were kept separated (except when fathers and sons were swimming together).
Per http://glbtqarchive.com/ssh/ymca_S.pdf Accordingly, the YMCA built dormitories where men could find sanctuary. By the 1880s, the YMCA had embarked on an ambitious physical education program to accompany its lectures on health and Christianity.
It built gyms, locker rooms, and swimming pools (where men swam nude in the custom of the era) to be located in the same building as the rooms for rent. Men who did not realize that a gay subculture existed discovered one at the YMCA when they stopped to take rooms upon their arrival in the city. Other men discovered the YMCA through friends or through scandals that received heavy newspaper coverage.
In 1912, the Portland, Oregon YMCA, with the ninth largest membership in North America, became the center of a sex scandal. This first public account of a homosexual underworld in the Northwest appeared when a Portland newspaper charged many of the city's most prominent men with sodomy and contributing to the delinquency of minors. A few of the implicated men lived at the YMCA and others used the sports facilities.
The Portland scandal, as well as a subsequent one in 1919 at the Newport, Rhode Island Naval Training Station, prompted the leaders of the YMCA to enact strict rules against homosexuals. Suspicion of homosexuality or the solicitation of homosexual activity became grounds for immediate eviction. However, many of the desk clerks charged with enforcement were gay men who worked at the YMCA because they liked the gay-friendly environment. These men looked the other way as homosexual behavior abounded.
History can be found:
Below is a photo of the Greyhound Bus Depot across the street from the YMCA.
As cited in the April 1972 issue of The Fountain, the Metropolitan Community Church of Portland was holding services at the YMCA Parker Chapel located at 831 SW 6th Avenue. [See Below]
Also cited in Classified Ads page 19 in the April 1972 issue of The Fountain, “St. Herman’s Liberal Catholic Church sung mass at downtown YMCA Chapel. 10:30 am each Sunday, Discussion group 11:30.” [see Bell, Book, and Candle for early St. Herman’s Liberal Catholic Church.
YWCA Wilson Center - not to be confused with YMCA. check out Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Portland, Oregon Papers - Archives West (orbiscascade.org)
Years: 1977 -?
1111 SW 10th Ave, Portland, OR 97205
Built 1958
Was YWCA https://unilocal.net/united-states/portland/ywca-of-greater-portland
· listed in Fodor’s Gay Guide to the USA 1996 Under “Body and Fitness “A clean, well end appointed gym and swim center that’s extremely dyke-positive.”
· listed in Fodor’s Gay Guide to the Pacific Northwest 1997 Under Working Out
· Listed in Fodor’s “The Little Black Book” 1997 edition under Working Out, “The well-appointed YWCA 1111 SW 10th Ave gym and swim center is extremely dyke positive.
Additional research: https://scua.uoregon.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/20916
Check out: YMCA by Caryn E. Neumann
Below are various advertisements for the YMCA - not Portland- sheet music, 45 RPM, a postcard from Portland, and an 1899 photo.
1899
