The Young Women's Christian Association
was organized in Akron on March 9, 1901 and occupied
rented rooms during its first few years. In 1905, Grace
House was donated to the YWCA by the Union Charity
Association, and the YWCA relocated into this new facility
at 22 S. High Street. The association received a
substantial financial boost in 1911 in the form of a
$50,000 endowment from the will of Colonel George W.
Perkins, an organizer of the B.F. Goodrich Company and the
grandson of Akron's founder.
In 1919, the Better Akron Foundation
Campaign began raising funds for a new YMCA facility, and the
present YWCA site at 146 S High Street was purchased in 1922.
The fundraising effort continued in 1929 through a joint
YWCA-YMCA campaign that collected $2.4 million for
construction contract of a new building for each organization.
The construction contract for the YWCA was awarded to the
Clemmer-Noah Construction Company on January 17, 1920 at a
reported cost of $857,000. Work was begun on February 7, 1939,
and the new YWCA was dedicated on January 28, 1931.
Construction of the YWCA occurred during a
period of industrial growth and optimism in the future of
Akron. Other landmark buildings built during this halcyon era
are the First National Tower (formally Central Tower),
Mayflower Hotel, and the YMCA.
The YWCA served the Akron community from
its S. High Street facility for more than fifty years before
budgetary hardships resulted in the sale of the building in
1982. Current plans would redevelop the building as a
mixed-use facility with a private athletic club, office
suites, retail shops, and restaurants. The YWCA offices would
also remain.
