'Mustard Seed' Sprouts Mighty YWCA

Early History Here Is Story of Faith and Loyalty of Little Band

By Leslie Shaw

Along in the 80's of the last century, a group of thoughtful citizens of Richmond observed that women and girls were coming in from the country in search of work in increasing numbers, and that--with their slender means--they had difficulty in finding a suitable home. At length, as a result of the initiative of the Rev. W. B. Williams, Bishop Francis M. Whittle, Mrs. Whittle and Mrs. A. F. Rahm, the Richmond Women's Christian Association was organized in Apri l881, with Mrs. Whittle acting as provisional president--and took up the work of sheltering and protecting girls and women in rented rooms at 619 East Main Street. To be exact, a flat of six rooms, in charge of a matron and a girl of 13, constituted the setting and the personnel of the organization that was to develop into a modern and far-reaching structure.

For five years or until its capacity of nine girls was reached, this flat continued as a boarding home and as general headquarters. Then, under the leadership of the president, Mrs. Joseph Bryan--mother of John Stewart Bryan, recently inducted as president of William and Mary College--the association secured a home of its own at 709 East Franklin Street, in the summer of 1892, which was moved, with an annex, to 711 East Franklin Street in October of the same year. An achievement, this new home large enough to accomodate 45 girls. " 'God's providence keepeth us' that motto should be ours," said Mrs. Bryan, in her dedicatory address to the association on October 17, 1892. "God's providence has kept us and is still keeping us. To His name be all glory. There are houses and houses, you know.  One is material, of foundation and walls, which, however grand, can never make the true home. The other may be poor and mean, but it Christ is honored, and if in it `loving kindness, unselfishness and gentleness dwell, there is a home to which the heart ever turns with restful peace and comfort. Now, we love the one, and God calls on us to build for Him the other. Then pray with me that God's blessing may abundantly rest on this house, and on each room in it, on each inmate and member of the board and association, for time and eternity."

This beloved president who resigned in 1899, referred often to the "mustard seed beginning" of the organization that was to become a powerful force in the lives of many young women and girls of the community.

To the Franklin Street residence an annex was later added to accomodate the ever increasing number of girls coming into the city. And prior to the selling of the building, in January 1911, the girls were taken for the summer to Ginter Park--using Richmond Hall of the Union Theological Seminary as a dormitory. The boarding home department was discontinued until 1913, when a residence at 108 West Cary Street was built.

The "mustard seed" had fallen in good soil, for in 1906 the local organization, still under the name of the Christian Women's Association, indorsed the action of the national Young Women's Christian Association becoming a charter member of the organization and adopting its present name. Following this step, a general secretary was employed in April, 1909, to help guide the association in its enlarged activities. By March, 1911, the old building had again become inadequate for the work, and under the leadership of Miss Katherine Heath Hawes, president of the board, a whirlwind campaign was held for a building fund, and the amount of $161,000 was raised.

April, 1914, just two decades ago, the association moved into its spacious and handsome new home on Fifth Steet, with fitting ceremony. Approximately enough, among those participating in the exercises of dedication was John Stewart Bryan, whose mother had made the dedicatory address for the 'mustard seed beginning" of the structure 22 years before.

The growth of the organization from 1914 on was largely inspired by Miss Hawes, who helped guide it from the embryo stage to its present well rounded development. As chairman of the South Atlantic Field Committee of the national board of Y. W. C. A., and a member of the national board, chairman of the women's division of the Virginia Commission on Interracial Relations, and member of the board of directors of the Community Fund, she was well qualified to bring a many-sided vision to the work with girls and young women.

Notable among other past presidents are Mrs. Francis M. Whittle, Mrs. James H. Capers, Miss Rebecca H. Norwood, Mrs. A. Burne Blair and Miss Caroline Halladay.

Under the auspices of the Y. W. C. A., the first gymnasium in Richmond was opened to the public, in a building loaned by Miss Hawes--on South Fourth Street. Likewise, through the agency of the Y. W. C. A. the first day nursery in town was founded in 1890--at 20 North Nineteenth Street, under the name of the Belle Bryan Day Nursery. The Travelers' Aid Association also had its beginnings under the colors of this organization, although later on it was taken over by another group as a separate organization. Again, it was the Y. W. C. A. that brought to the public the first cafeteria in town--a long step from the modest lunchroom of the first dwelling on Franklin Street, where working girls were served by volunteers and where in many instances the only purchase was coffee or soup to liven up a cold lunch brought from home.

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At the time of the opening of the central building on Fifth Street, the public became acquainted with the splendid swimming pool--still the only pool in town exclusively for women--the spacious new gymnasium with ample room for drill exercises and with the last word in equipment--a library with hundreds of titles and with the newest magazines, with restful reading and reception rooms--in short a center for every type of activity to interest all ages and groups.

The boarding department had previously been tranferred to the Walford residence on Third Street.

Later, an industrial deparment of girls employed in factories, stores, restaurants and so on and an employment bureau were added; and in 1920 a department for younger girls--to be called in time the Girl Reserves--was created. In 1929, a business girl's group, composed largely in the beginning of Girl Reserves who had grown up but had not outgrown the "Y," was organized.

Before this time, in 1915, the Phyllis Wheatley Branch for colored girls was opened.

And now, 42 years after the simple beginnings of the structure started with the little material resources and much faith, the Y. W. C. A. of Richmond finds itself one of the most far-reaching organizations in the city, meeting the needs of hundreds of girls and women and facing one of the major challenges of its career.

For today, with hundreds of young people unabsorbed by the changing economic machine, facing idleness and insecurity, it is the character building agencies that must anwer the question: If more and more leisure is to be the lot of youth, how are more and more ways toward the creative use of leisure to be found? The Y. W. C. A. has met and is meeting this modern challenge by offering ways to turn leisure into productive channels; to maintain the skills and morale of the idle, and to increase the skills and confidence of those employed. Directed educational programs designed to reach three major groups, industrial, business and professional, and junior girls, embracing standard courses, club work, athletics, health measures, handicraft and organized recreation are filling in the empty hours of young people and producing results as well, tangible and intangible.

In the handicraft shop, with an atmosphere of a French atelier--housed as it is in an attic with time-weathered rafters and sloping roofs--busy groups are absorbed in shaping pottery, hammering brass-work, painting canvases, weaving on old-fashioned hand looms or weaving seats in hand-finished reproductions of antique chairs. On the walls hang colorful posters and paintings of former students, and shelves hold bits of pottery, of metal work and other types of handicraft. Classes are open to all of whatever age or interest.

In the "gym" and pool, under the direction of the health education department, drills in group exercises, corrective exercises, rhythmic exercise, social dancing and tap dancing are scheduled for almost every hour in the day, and evening. Basketball games, swimming races, "gym" parties are scheduled for recreation hours.

In the industrial group are found employees of restaurants, telephone systems, factories and chain stores, as well as household employees. Between 150 and 175 are registered; and this season a new class has been added for the household group, a course in home nursing and child care, under the direction of a registered nurse. A step toward putting domestic service on a skilled basis, this.

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From all ages and all types, the "Y" classes draw their members: 'teen-age girls, busy housewives who take an hour off twice a week to grow young again in the rhythmic exercise classes, business girls who want to use their free time to learn about the changes going on in the world about them, household employees whose precious afternoon off must be put to the very fullest use. And among the most important, the unemployed girl who asks: "How am I to have a good time?"

Teeming with life and with the spirit of good fellowship, the busy Fifth Street "Y" is converting into constructive attitudes the dynamic urges of young people, and preserving the youthful spirit of its older visitors.

No more could have been hoped for by the handful of workers, who in 1892, envisioned a physical and spiritual home for all women and girls. And always in the remembrance of the directors of this outgrowth of a "mustard seed" are the words of the pioneer president, Belle Bryan: "God's providence has kept us and is still keeping us."