"We come to college not alone to prepare to make a living but to learn to live a life." - M.J. Riggs as quoted in “One Hundred Years of Action:  The University of Illinois YMCA” by Harold Hannah

A Brief History of the University YMCA

The YMCA of the University of Illinois was founded in 1873, just six years after the University began in 1867. The first President (Regent) of the University was a Baptist minister, John Milton Gregory. President Gregory led a daily chapel service that all the students were required to attend. But students wanted a religious organization of their own, and so began the YMCA at the U of I.

Three YMCAs were begun in Champaign-Urbana in 1873: The University YMCA, and one each in each town. The two town Ys later combined into the McKinley YMCA, now called the Champaign County YMCA.

The first University YMCA was located at Wright and Green Streets. In total, the University Y has had 5 different locations--all on Wright Street.  One of the early buildings was at the corner of Wright and John; it is now called Illini Hall. Initially it housed 88 students and had an auditorium that could seat 250 students. It was also the first residence hall on UIUC campus. Eventually the building became too expensive to run so they had to sell the building to the University. In 1938 the University YMCA moved to its current building on the corner of Wright and Chalmers, in the heart of campus.

The University Y began with Bible studies and service projects. One was the "Student Handbook", later called the "I book". The Y provided this free service to students until 1955 when the I book was taken over by the University.

The University YMCA provided an employment service for students needing part-time work from 1900 until 1932, when the University took over the program. The University YMCA helped students find housing from the earliest years, and in 1908 provided the first Dormitory on campus for 88 U of I students in the Y building later purchased by the University and now known as Illini Hall.

In 1918, the University YMCA began organized service to International students. At that time there were 201 students from 31 countries. In 1968, the University took over the program, even hiring the Y staff person, John Price, to run the Program. Now there are over 5,000 international students at the U of I. The Campus Y continues to have cooperative programs for these students such as our International Student Reception each fall, and the International Dinner each spring. See our International Programming page for more information.

Dump and Run is a huge recycling program that was started at the Y in 2002. We save all kinds of things from the dumpsters that students leaving town ordinarily throw away, store them over the summer, then sell them cheaply to new students and other community members in the fall: clothes, furniture, bikes, microwaves TVs - you name it and we have at least 3 of them! In the fall of 2004 we filled the UIUC Stock Pavilion with more then 4 semi-trailers of donated items that would have normally been sent to a landfill! Since then, we've grown to preventing 6 semis full of usable items from local dumpsters each year.

Lecture series at the Y such as Friday Forum and special events add to the intellectual, ethical, religious and spiritual life on campus and in the community.

The Y also serves as the home to different student organizations focused on social justice and cultural identity programs.  More information about these groups is available by clicking here.

Non-Profit Status

We receive no money from the University budget and no tax money. We are a 501 (c3) non-profit organization and we exist solely from the donations of private individuals. You can make a tax-deductible donation on our Support Us page.