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YMCA 150th Anniversary KENNETH L. GLADISH, PH.D. JOHN M. FERRELL A Newcomen Address THE NEWCOMEN SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES In April1923, the late L. F. Loree (1858-1940) of New York City, then dean ofAmerican railroad presidents, established ~ ~ ' a group interested in business history, as distinguished from .. political history. Later known as "American Newcomen," its ... objectives were expanded to focus on the growth, development, . contributions and influence of Industry, Transportation, Com- ~~ . munication, the Utilities, Mining, Agriculture, Banking, Finance, Economics, Insurance, Education, Invention and the Law. · In short, The Newcomen Society recognizes people and institutions making positive contributions to the world around us and celebrates the role of the free enterprise system in our increasingly global marketplace. The Newcomen Society of the United States is a nonprofit membership corporation chartered in 1961 in the State ofMaine, with headquarters at412 Newcomen Road, Exton, Pennsylvania 19341, located 30 miles west of Center City, Philadelphia. Meetings are held throughout the United States, where Newcomei:t addresses are presented by organizational leaders in their respective fields. Most Newcomen presentations feature anecdotal life stories ofcorporate organizations, interpreted through the ambitions, successes, struggles and ultimate achievements of pioneers whose efforts helped build the foundations of their enterprises. The Society's name perpetuates the life and work of Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729), the British pioneer whose valuable improvements to the newly invented steam engine in Staffordshire, England brought him lasting fame in the field of the Mechanical Arts. The N ewcomen Engines, in use from 1712 to 1775, helped pave the way for the Industrial Revolution. Newcomen's inventive genius preceded by more than 50 years the brilliant work in steam by the world-famous James Watt of Scotland. The Newcomen Society of the United States is affiliated with The Newcomen Society for the Study of the History of Engineering and Technology, with offices at The Science Museum, South Kensington, London, S.W.7, England. The Society is also associated in union with the Royal Society for the Encouragement ofArts, Manufactures and Commerce, whose offices are at 6 John Adam Street, London, W.C.2, England. Members of American Newcomen who visit ~urope are invited to visit the home ofThomas Newcomen at Dartmouth in South Devonshire, England and to see a working model of a Dartmouth Newcomen Engine. "For 150 years, the YMCA has been a pioneering force in the United States - a force so powerful that, as we begin the 21 st century, it is arguably among the most successful social institutions our country has ever known." -Kenneth L. Gladish, Ph.D . This address, dealing with the history ofthe YMCA inAmerica, was delivered at a '2ooi Massachusetts Meeting" of The Newcomen Society ofthe United States held in Boston, when Dr. Kenneth L. Gladish and Mr. john M. Ferrell were guests of honor and speakers on October 25th, 200I. YMCA 150thAnniversary KENNETH L. GLADISH, PH.D. CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER YMCA OF THE USA JOHN M. FERRELL PRESIDENT YMCA OF GREATER BOSTON THE NEWCOMEN SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES NEW YORK EXTON PORTLAND 2001 Newcomen Publication Number IS59 Copyright, 2002 YMCA Permission to abstract is granted provided proper credit is allowed The Newcomen Society, as a body, is not responsible for opinions expressed in the following pages First Printing: August, 2002 SET UP, PRINTED AND BOUND IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOR THE NEWCOMEN SOCIE1Y OF THE UNITED STATES BY CRWGRAPHICS. OPENING REMARKS AND INTRODUCTION OF DR. GLADISH BY JOHN FERRELL IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETIS ON OCTOBER 25TH, 200!. OSTON IN 1851 boasted a population of140,000 residents, having Bgrown six-fold in the early decades of the 19th century. The city was a commercial, manufacturing, and financial center, creating many employment opportunities for young men moving to the city from the farms of New England, transforming the region from an agricultural to an industrial economy. There were significant religious stirrings within the Protestant churches, with the evangelical denominations competing with the Unitarians for the souls of the populace. It was a time marked by evangelical revivals, the founding of Bible societies, moral reform groups, and benevolent organizations. It was in this milieu that America's first YMCA was born. Retired sea captain and lay Baptist preacher Thomas V. Sullivan gathered a group of men representing 20 evangelical churches in the Spring Lane Chapel of the Old South Church in Boston on December 29, 1851. It was the third meeting that month to discuss the creation of the Young Men's Christian Association, based on an organization founded in London in 1844. There they approved a constitution for the new association with the stated purpose of improving "the spiritual and mental condition of young men." The Boston Y was created one month after the Montreal association, and was immediately followed by YMCAs in New York, Baltimore, Cincinnati and dozens of towns and cities across the country. The new YMCA quickly elected officers, accepted members, and rented rooms on the fourth floor above Jones and Balls Store at Wash­ ington and Summer Streets in downtown Boston. Its new programs of {5} Bible study, employment services, housing referrals, and religious train­ ing became standard fare for YMCAs everywhere. Today's Huntington Avenue YMCA, in its fifth location since 1851, continues the tradition. At the Y's first annual meeting in May of 1853 (forever confusing succeeding generations of Y staff responsible for numbering annual meetings), the numbers were proudly reported: there were 1,600 mem­ bers; a library of1,600 volumes; expenses of$6,856; a surplus of$1,900; a "well-furnished reading room"; and "standing and name among the benevolent societies of the day." The meeting began with prayer and reading from the Scriptures, followed by the choir and congregation singing a hymn: How blest the sacred tie that binds In sweet communion kindred minds! How swift the heavenly course they run, Whose hearts, whose faith, whose hopes are one! The Young Men's Christian Association was off and running in Amer"ica. [ 6} T IS AN HONOR TO BE WITH YOU ALL THIS EVENING, and to introduce I tonight's keynote speaker, Ken Gladish, national executive director of the YMCA of the USA. Like many of us in the room tonight, Ken has been involved with the Y since childhood. Growing up in Northbrook, Illinois, he and his family were active members and volunteers at the North Suburban YMCA. He first served professionally as an assistant director for youth and community programs, and remained committed to Y work as a member oflocal boards in Virginia and Indiana, the national board, and as a delegate to the YMCA World Alliance Executive Committee in Geneva, Switzerland. Before Ken came to join the YMCA movement as its twelfth national executive director, he, along with his wife, Kendal, and their two children, Donald and Ellen, lived in Indianapolis, where Ken made his professional commitment to community development for over two decades as the president or executive director of a number of organiza­ tions including the Indianapolis Foundation, William E. English Foun­ dation, Central Indiana Community Foundation, Indiana Humanities Council, and Indiana Donors Alliance. Ken received his bachelor of arts degree from Hanover College in Indiana, his master's and doctorate degrees in government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia, and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the University ofindianapolis. He has also taught at the collegiate level at the University ofVirginia, Butler University, and Indiana University-Indianapolis. In the great tradition of volunteerism, Ken is a trustee of Hanover College, former president of the Rotary Club of Indianapolis, an active elder in the Presbyterian Church, and former commissioner of the Indiana Martin Luther King Holiday Commission. He currently represents the YMCA of the USA and the movement as a member of a wide range ofboards and committees nationwide. Members of theN ewcomen Society and distinguished guests, it is my pleasure, as a friend and colleague, to introduce to you, Ken Gladish. ( 7} Thank you, John, for that introduction and for the fine leadership you are providing to the YMCA. And thank you to the Board ofTrustees of The N ewcomen Society for honoring the YMCA and for inviting me to address all of you tonight. It truly is a pleasure to be here. LMOST 49 YEARS AGO TO THIS DAY- on October 31, 1952- the A then -named N ewcomen Society in North America met in New York City for an event similar to our celebration tonight. On that day, Cleveland E. Dodge was introduced by Dr. Thomas]. Watson, founder and chairman ofiBM, to address the subject of ''YMCA: A Century at New York." Mr. Dodge, one of the great YMCA volunteers of his time, was part of the third generation ofDodge family men to serve the association. He was the standard bearer of a great American industrial family; heir to its equally great fortune; and like many other distinguished volunteers, he had served the YMCA in his local community and at the national level. On that day in Gotham a half century ago, Dodge was honored to be present at the invitation ofThe Newcomen Society and challenged to speak to the remarkable history of the YMCA in its first 100 years­ most especially to its time-tested service to America's largest city and his hometown. Though I am not a son of the great city of Boston in which we meet, and though I am not heir to a great industrial fortune, tonight I find myself in a position similar to that ofMr. Dodge a half century ago. I am honored to be here as a custodian and steward of the YMCA story, as we share together our association's lustrous history and mark our sesquicen­ tennial.

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