John Shearer: Touring The Downtown YMCA On Its 50th Birthday

I consider myself fortunate that I was an elementary school student who was enthusiastic about sports when, not one, but two Chattanooga YMCAs opened.

 

The first was in 1969, when the shiny new, mid-century-style Downtown YMCA was built when I was a third-grader at Bright School, while the second was two years later, when the North River YMCA opened closer to my home in Valleybrook.

 

I have still not forgotten taking part in such Bright-related events as a basketball tournament and youth gymnastics meet at the Downtown Y during those first two or three years it was open.

I remember being impressed at how the facility seemed like such a sleek and large building, even if my efforts in those two sports – particularly in gymnastics – did not likely draw any eyes in return.

 

I also recall visiting there one other time, possibly with friend Kurt Schmissruater while his family was working out there, and seeing on the trademark open stairway in the center a woman who had been a neighbor where we had formerly lived.

 

But after those early years, I never joined the Y as an adult, even though I have always been a casual jogger. And I have not been in the downtown Y much over the years after those initial visits, although I do remember covering NFL great Joe Namath speaking there in the 1990s.

 

However, after seeing in old newspaper stories on file at the Chattanooga Public Library downtown that the building has turned exactly 50 years old this spring, I decided to go and visit my old brick friend that was always a casual acquaintance.

 

With the help of executive director Debbie Roth and marketing director Cara Standifer, I was given a first-class tour for more than an hour on Wednesday and was shown nearly every nook and cranny in the building. I don’t think I would have been treated any better if I had been Prince William or Prince Harry stopping by on a goodwill tour.

 

It quickly became obvious to me that the downtown Y is busting at the seams using about every square inch of the space for not only all the different kinds of individual and group exercising, but also for preschool, childcare and other outreach programs. And plenty of people could be found throughout the building – even though it was the slower mid-morning time.

 

Of course, one could just look at all the cars in the parking lot without having to go inside to know the membership levels are good. Like parking facilities at a growing state university, open spaces are scarce here, especially at peak workout times. 

 

Ms. Roth said the facility has about 4.100 membership units – or about 14,000 individuals who can use the Y. 

 

But what caught my eye the most as a lover of architecture were all the examples of mid-20^th century style. While the outside of the building is built more with function in mind than form, the inside has quite a few quality features from the 1960s.

 

That includes colorful subway tile in places, wooden doors with small windows, a neat original swimming pool with also-colorful tile and a cantilevered viewing area, and, of course, the open stairway framed in slate-like stone.

 

The latter is no doubt the center point of the building architecturally, and one could easily picture a man with a 1969 business suit – including a thin tie – walking up or down the stairs as easily as a woman today in contemporary yoga clothes.

 

Other quality features include an exercise room with hardwood floors adjacent to the gymnasium, a padded running track on the lower floor by the original weight room, and a men’s locker room full of hundreds of 1969-era metal lockers.

 

Uniquely still in the building are metal ashtrays by the elevators, perhaps due to the fact that meetings were held there and smoking was still more accepted in 1969 – even at a health facility by those possibly exercising.

 

Of course, the building now has plenty of newer additions and remodeled areas. The late industrialist and banker – and swimmer -- Spencer H. Wright helped build a large lap pool on the backside. And a remodeling drawn up by Neuhoff Taylor Architects about 11 years ago changed the look of parts of the structure. That included removing a commercial kitchen.

 

Some stacked stone indicative of a more contemporary look now adorns the lobby area.

 

The building was originally designed by Selmon T. Franklin and Associates and constructed by H.E. Collins Contracting Co. 

 

It officially opened on April 10-11, 1969, with ceremonies led by Metropolitan YMCA board chairman Alex Guerry Jr., downtown Y chairman Dr. John Huckaba, building committee chairman Sam Parry, physical education director Bob Mullins and Metropolitan Y general secretary Moss Causey. 

 

The first executive director of the new facility was Hartwell B. Brooks, who came from Dallas, Texas, but was a Tennessee native. The health club director was Karl E. Anderson, who had once given a massage to President Lyndon Johnson’s aching back while the president visited Oklahoma City.

 

Dr. James L. Fowle, the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church, had been fund-raising chairman for the new building. Many people reportedly questioned the prospects of raising the nearly $3 million needed for a new downtown Y, but they got behind it when they knew the popular and respected Dr. Fowle was spearheading it.

 

The Y when it opened in 1969 was called the Central Branch of the YMCA, but in a 1982 memorial ceremony four years after Dr. Fowle died, it started being named after Dr. Fowle in official name use. 

 

However, now its common name is the Downtown Family YMCA.

 

Ms. Roth said she has information on file at the Y in which talk of the current downtown Y had begun as far back as the early 1960s. 

 

The old Central YMCA on Georgia Avenue between the Dome Building and the Carnegie Library had dated to 1909 and it actually had residents, as a number of Y’s once did. Several people had stayed in the Chattanooga one for years, but were told to vacate the building by March 15, 1969.

 

Ms. Roth, a former Iowa resident who came to the Chattanooga Y five years ago, said it was common for people to stay in YMCAs or YWCAs. Among them was her mother in a YWCA, she said.

 

The idea was initially designed to be temporary for people moving to a town, until they could often find on a bulletin board at the Y or through social networking places to stay more permanently.

 

“You would get off on a train and go to a local Y and stay there,” she said.

 

About the time the new Y opened on West Sixth Street, it was announced that Gordon Street Inc., which operated Wheland Foundry and other business interests, had purchased the old Central Y and the Carnegie Library next door.

 

The Y had owned the Carnegie Library and used it as YMCA Boys Club and to house social agencies. The Carnegie Library was later used as offices by the Street firm, while the Y building – which was used by union leader Jimmy Hoffa as a workout facility during his 1964 trial in Chattanooga -- was torn down in early 1970 for a parking lot.

 

One article on the new Y on West Sixth Street said it would have a businessmen’s club with a shower area, a locker room and health club that featured rowing machines, “exercycles,” a treadmill, a chest pulley and weightlifting equipment.

 

The overall facility also initially had a color TV lounge, a refreshment area with vending machines, sunlamps, whirlpool baths, a steam bath, a squash court and five courts for handball. It also had a cork track in the bottom.

 

The large cantilevered viewing area above the pool was to hold up to 400 spectators to view meets, including one held shortly before the Y was officially dedicated in 1969. In a unique design, the gym also originally had an open balcony viewing area above it, but it has since been closed off, although windows still look down on the large room.

 

One of the original public entrances on the east side of the building is now a coded staff door that goes through a children’s playground, which is open to the larger Chattanooga downtown community after hours and on weekends.

 

The original West Sixth Street Y also had a number of meeting rooms, and Ms. Roth believes it was designed to be a regional meeting place for Y-related functions.

 

While parts of the Y have changed today through the ever-expanding exercise machines and equipment desired, and the large variety of exercise classes now popular, most of the building still appears much as it was in the old days.

 

Ms. Standifer, who came to the Y as an instructor 16 years ago and is in her fourth year as marketing director, said the function of the Y has not changed, either, in 50 years.  “While we have changed so much, we haven’t changed the core of the Y identity,” she said.

 

And that has apparently continued to make the downtown building popular.

 

Bryce Johnson, the Y’s strength and conditioning and sports performance coach, said while overseeing the lower-level workout area that he likes the building, even though he knows it is now getting older. He even compares his black-matted lower room to an Eastern bloc country’s training facility during the Cold War.

 

“I like the history of it,” he said. “It’s been a part of downtown for a long time. The YMCA is really tied into the community.”

 

The general consensus seems to be that, although it is now 50, the building is still doing well physically for a 50-year-old, which is the Y’s goal as well for 50-year-old humans who come through its doors.

 

“You probably cannot find a more sturdy building,” said Ms. Roth, adding that it was also built big enough originally to accommodate growth in use and an increase in space needs.

 

However, because of the number of people who use it and a likely demand for an updated/even larger facility, she and Ms. Standifer said the Y will likely one day need to relocate somewhere else. 

 

“We’re using every square inch of this space,” said Ms. Roth. “To meet the needs of the community for the next 50 years, we are trying to figure out what we’ll do to accommodate that.”

 

Ms. Standifer said any discussions about a future location or facility are very much in the preliminary stages, but Y officials know that time will likely eventually come.

 

“In order for us to grow, we won’t stay here forever,” she said. “We don’t truly have a vision. We are not certain where the next step forward will be.”

 

For now, though, everyone seems to agree that this mid-century building located near the area once popularly called the Golden Gateway is still doing well on its golden anniversary.

 

“It’s a beautiful structure,” said Ms. Roth. “It’s impressive they had the vision to build it at the right capacity to serve and meet the needs of the people in the community.”

 

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Note: This is another a series of stories about touring historic Chattanooga area buildings that have had minimal architectural changes inside and out. To see the previous story in the series, read here.

https://www.chattanoogan.com/2019/3/23/387046/John-Shearer-Getting-An-Inside-Look.aspx

 

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Jcshearer2@comcast.net