Built 1911 NRHP Reference # 86001095 Opened 1911 Added to NRHP 30 April 1986 | MPS Black Metropolis TR Designated CL September 9, 1998 Phone +1 773-285-0020 Architect Berlin,Robert C | |
 | ||
Location 3763 S. Wabash Ave.
Chicago, Illinois Address 3763 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60653, USA Hours Open today · 5:30AM–10PMThursday5:30AM–10PMFriday5:30AM–10PMSaturday6:30AM–6PMSunday10AM–5PMMonday5:30AM–10PMTuesday5:30AM–10PMWednesday5:30AM–10PMSuggest an edit Similar Ida B Wells‑Barnett House, Victory Monument, Sydney Kent House, Delaware Building, Ludington Building | ||
The Wabash Avenue YMCA is a Chicago Landmark located within the Chicago Landmark Black Metropolis-Bronzeville Historic District in the Douglas community area of Chicago, Illinois. This YMCA facility served as an important social center within the Black Metropolis area, and it also provided housing and job training for African Americans migrating into Chicago in the early 20th century. In 1915, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, one of the first groups specializing in African-American studies, was founded at the YMCA.
The Black Metropolis area in Chicago, centered on the area of 35th Street and State Street, was a city within a city developed by the black community as an alternative to the restrictions, exploitations, and indifference of the city at large. The Wabash Avenue YMCA was opened in 1914, supported by Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck and Company at the time. Rosenwald had a philanthropic interest in black-oriented causes. The YMCA provided job training programs such as auto repair and manual training. The Black Metropolis district thrived through the 1920s, but competition from white-owned businesses on 47th Street and the effects of the Great Depression led to the closure of many of the black-owned businesses. Declining membership and deterioration of the building led to its closing in 1981. In the late 1990s, however, a nine-million dollar renovation project was undertaken by TRC to return to the building to its rightful condition.
It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1986.