The dedication took place on the afternoon of April 10, 1921, a Sunday.
Dr. E.T. Mathes of Bellingham, a longtime YMCA executive committee member, addressed the assembled crowd, some of whom, no doubt, contributed toward the $183,000 raised to pay for its construction.
“This Y.M.C.A. building is to me the most outstanding building in Everett — not because it is the most expensive, or because it is a successful construction of beautiful architecture and workmanship — but because it is a mark in the struggle toward the ideal — an institution to lift men and train them to the doctrine of salvation,” Mathes said, according to a story in the next day’s Herald.
For nearly a century the Georgian-style, red-orange brick building on the northwest corner of Rockefeller Avenue and California Street served as a recreational hub for the community. The original structure contained a lobby, guest rooms, a game room and gymnasium. Over the years it would be renovated and expanded.
Today it closes.
A new $33.5 million YMCA facility at 4730 Colby Ave. is scheduled to open Dec. 1.
Plans call for the historic downtown building to be converted into apartments.
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