YMCA Founding and Growth
Started in London, England, in 1844, the Young Men’s Christian Association organization (YMCA) was founded by Sir George Williams to cultivate the spiritual, physical, and intellectual development of young men in accordance with Christian teachings. Born October 11, 1821, on a farm in Somerset, England, George Williams was raised in a religious family and was a devout Christian. In 1836, Williams left home to become a draper apprentice in London, just one of the “150,000 young men who flooded into the city of London,”1 as part of the massive migration caused by the Industrial Revolution. Williams saw a deep need for a spiritual organization for the development of young men, as many came from rural communities ill-equipped to navigate the temptations of city life.
To fill this need, Williams organized prayer groups for young men to create a sense of community and to develop spiritual formation in Christianity. These prayer sessions led Williams and 10 other young Christian men to found the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in London with the intent to improve “the spiritual condition of the young men engaged in the houses of business, by the formation of Bible classes, family and social prayer meeting, mutual improvement societies, or any other spiritual agency.”2 The YMCA quickly developed as a prominent organization in London, and soon expanded beyond its original focus of religious and spiritual formation for young men to include educational programs and physical fitness. The YMCA foundation centered upon the overall moral development of young men to become Christian leaders. Branches of the organization quickly extended across the country, as by 1851, there were 24 YMCAs in 16 other cities with 2,700 members across England, Ireland, and Scotland.3
Williams stayed involved with the YMCA throughout his life and helped facilitate its growth as an international non-profit organization. In recognition of his devotion to the development of young men within Great Britain and beyond, Queen Victoria knighted Williams in 1894. At this time, the YMCA was a widespread global organization in 24 countries with some 5,000 YMCA facilities and over 500,000 members. Sir George Williams died on November 6, 1905, aged 84, and he was buried at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.4
YMCA in North America
The YMCA established its first branches in North America in late 1851. The Montreal, Quebec, branch was established on November 25, 1851, followed by the Boston, Massachusetts, branch on December 29, 1851. After gaining a foothold in North America, the YMCA spread rapidly with branches opening in major cities. Though the American YMCA touted a universal mission to all young men, its main mission, culture, and architecture were influenced by and for middle-class, white Protestant men. The YMCA evolved to include a wider range of young men and moved from a religious club to a more social service-oriented association. This shift led to segregated branches for African Americans, Germans, Scandinavians, Chinese, French-Canadians, and Native Americans.5 During the 1880s, the International Committee promoted a separate but unequal facility provision for Blacks, women, railroad workers, and the working class,6 and segregated branches for these groups opened across the nation.
YMCA in the South
During Reconstruction, the YMCA sought to establish new branches in the South as its presence there was severely lacking with the existence of only 3 or 4 branches in 1872.7 The New York-based Central Committee of the YMCA desired a strong Southern presence to bring about their vision of “national manhood,” in order to “weave the South back into the fabric of the Union.”8 The YMCA’s core principle of developing young men within a Christian framework was attractive to the South and helped the organization gain a footing in the region. Southern elites embraced the YMCA because for “white Southerners the new, modern YMCA, equipped with a building and situated in the heart of their newly segregated cities and towns, signified both progress toward the future as well as allegiance to the values of the past.”9
In 1886, Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy, was one of the first to build a modern YMCA in the South.10 Since the end of the war, Richmond transformed itself into a modern industrialized city, having “six railroads, more than fifty tobacco factories, and numerous iron and steel mills.”11 The Richmond YMCA building was symbolic of a city embracing progress by moving forward past its Confederate allegiance and reuniting with the North. This connection was evident as the Philadelphia-based Cope & Stewardson architectural firm was selected to design its new building, rather than a southern architect. Cope & Stewardson utilized a “Romanesque Revival style popularized by Bostonian Henry Hobson Richardson. With its corner tower, gabled profiles, rusticated stone, and continuous band of round arches, the Richmond YMCA, in the heart of the South, would have been quite at home in New England.”12 Increasing prosperity in the South during the 1880s led to the construction of more YMCA buildings across the region, including Atlanta, Nashville, New Orleans, Mobile, Charleston, Savannah, among others.
YMCAs for African Americans
After the Civil War, the YMCA encouraged African Americans to establish their own separate associations. The national YMCA sent out two envoys to promote the organization to African Americans with varying success. Henry Edwards Brown, a former abolitionist and the second envoy, visited Black colleges across the South, resulting in students carrying the Y’s mission back to their colleges and hometowns. In 1891, Brown was succeeded by William A. Hunton, a Black Canadian who worked as the Norfolk, North Carolina, YMCA’s first full-time paid secretary. Brown’s succession made him the highest-ranked African American YMCA official in the United States.13 African Americans saw the YMCA mission as a “means for racial advancement” and “created a virtually autonomous African-American YMCA,”14 resulting in large numbers of Blacks founding and joining segregated YMCA branches headed by Black leaders. Hunton promoted racial solidarity and self-help as there was no financial assistance from the national YMCA for Black Ys. He founded The Messenger, a monthly newspaper, and organized regional meetings, which strengthened connections between Black YMCAs, resulting in the formation of Black Ys in cities and on college campuses across the country.15 Due to Brown’s successful campaigning, the national YMCA hired a second African American secretary in 1898 as Hunton’s assistant. This assistant secretary was Jesse E. Moorland, a Howard University graduate. Under the two men’s direction and influence, the number of Black Ys rose throughout the early 20th century.16
Assisting financially toward the increasing number of African American YMCAs were three wealthy philanthropists: George Foster Peabody, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., and Julius Rosenwald. Of particular interest is Rosenwald, whose wealth came from Sears Roebuck Company. His philanthropy was already well known due to his creation of the Rosenwald School fund for the construction of Black schools across the South. At the urging of Secretary Moorland, Rosenwald set up another fund for the construction of Black YMCAs in order “to provide African-Americans with opportunities for self-help and personal improvement and not with charity.”17 Before 1900, few Black YMCAs owned their own buildings, usually meeting in rented buildings, churches, or private homes. Initially available to only Ys in Chicago, Rosenwald soon opened the fund to any city in the nation that could raise $75,000 to match his $25,000 grant. The first grant round in 1910 funded buildings in Atlanta, Baltimore, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Harlem, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. The grant was released once the $50,000 was locally raised and “expended for land and building.”18 In 1920, following the poor economic situation caused by World War I, Rosenwald had a second grant round that financed buildings in Buffalo; Dallas; Dayton, Ohio; Denver; Detroit; Harrisburg, Pa.; Los Angeles; Montclair, N.J.; Orange, N.J.; Pittsburgh; Toledo; and Youngstown, Ohio.
YMCAs in Texas
YMCA branches also organized in Texas including ones for African Americans, such as the Dallas one that received a Rosenwald YMCA grant in the 1920 second-round grant cycle.19 Other Texas cities with Black YMCAs included Beaumont, Fort Worth, Galveston, Houston, Port Arthur, San Antonio, Texarkana, and Waco.
Various African American travel guides listed locations of Black YMCAs across the nation, including The Bronze American National Travel Guide, Chauffeur’s Travelers Bureau Guide, GO Guide to Pleasant Motoring, Grayson’s Travel and Business Guide, Negro Motorist Green Book, and the Travelguide. In Texas, the branches listed in travel guides included:
- Beaumont, Neches Street branch, 776 Neches Street
- Dallas, Moorland branch, 2700 Flora Street
- Fort Worth, William McDonald branch, 1600 Jones Street
- Galveston, Gibson branch, 718 41st Street, later 3101 Ave D (Market Street)
- Houston, Bagby Street branch, 1217 Bagby Street
- Port Arthur, 7th Street branch, 710 West 7th Street (W Rev. Dr. Ransom Howard Street)
- San Antonio, Alamo branch, 112 Sycamore Street
- Texarkana, Colored branch, 418 Elm Street
- Waco, Dorie Miller branch, 202 Clay Street
The "Black YMCAs in Texas" map shows only the facilities listed in the travel guides. A red pin indicates that the building is still extant; a black pin shows that it was demolished. Each pop-up window will show branch name, geographic coordinates, state of existence, location, travel guide/s in which it was listed, and other details as known.
YMCA in Beaumont
In 1901, the Spindletop oil discovery led to a boom in Beaumont, with its population growing from 9,000 to 30,000 in a few short months. This sudden increase in population came with vice and corruption, causing town leaders to organize a social association focused on improving the “spirit, mind and body” – the Young Men's Christian Association. The State Secretary of the YMCA, Wilber Mason Lewis of Waco, came to Beaumont to give a series of addresses. While in town, Lewis met with Henry G. Behrman, and together they scheduled a meeting for November 3, 1901. Meeting attendees elected a board with George W. Carroll as president. Fundraising began right away, and by 1903, a parcel of land was purchased on the 200 block of Forsythe Street, and building construction started. On August 1, 1904, the building opened for occupation. The four-story red brick building contained 30 dormitory rooms, a dining room and kitchen, reception rooms for meetings, social affairs, night and bible classes, a bowling alley, an indoor swimming pool, a gymnasium, and an 800-seat auditorium.
The organization proved to be popular, gaining 875 members by 1908, and the coming years saw the initiation of a number of clubs and activities. By the 1920s, the four-story building was deemed too small, so a second building campaign started under the supervision of Hastings Harrison, the Y’s general secretary. Another oil boom in Beaumont assisted with raising over $300,000. By 1928, construction started on a parcel about ten blocks northwest of downtown at 934 Calder Avenue. Designed by Tisdale Stone & Pinson, the Spanish Colonial Revival building varied from two stories to four stories and contained a larger gymnasium, swimming pool, dormitories, and conference rooms. A one-story addition was added to the west side to house the Garth Friendship Club for newspaper boys and carriers in 1930, which received $13,000 from Dr. J.W. Garth.1
YMCA for African Americans
Discussion started in the 1920s about forming a YMCA for African Americans. The Reverend Charles F.L.N. Graham called a meeting of Black community leaders on May 5, 1928, in order to formulate a plan and raise support for organizing the first African American YMCA in Beaumont. At the initial meeting were Dr. Peter G. Byrd, George T.N. Griffith, Dr. Henry E. Jones, Nicholas Melton, Leon Perkins, Principal Thomas Titus Pollard, Dr. William F. Tyler, Dr. James C. Wallace and L.S. Woods. Griffith had previous experience with the YMCA during World War I and recommended that they obtain an affiliation with the Central YMCA of Beaumont, as this was commonly done across the nation. During the war, 350 Black YMCA secretaries served Black soldiers in 55 camps, training schools and forts across the nation, as well as overseas.2 After the war, there were at least four Colored YMCAs in Texas: Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and Marshall.3
A second meeting was held the following week on May 10, 1928, that had additional attendees: Sylvester V. Brown, Charles H.D. Fleming, Aaron Jefferson, Dr. Robert N. Miller, Felix J. Normand, and Principal Robert T. Tatum. This larger group formed the core for organizing the YMCA. Also in attendance was Hastings Harrison, the general secretary of the Beaumont YMCA, by invitation of the Reverend Graham and he gave his endorsement for a Black YMCA. The group elected a temporary committee consisting of Graham as chairman, Pritchard H. Willard as vice chairman and Griffith as secretary, along with a board of directors: Wallace, Tyler, Willard and Graham. The project gained momentum as word spread through the local churches. Dr. Matthew W. Dogan, a member of the National Council of the YMCA and president of Wiley College in Marshall, came to town to address the Black community. The core group also sought guidance from the Black YMCAs in Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston.
The organization rented space at Sol White’s building (extant) at the corner of Trinity and Forsythe streets (695 Forsythe) and was known as the Trinity Street Branch YMCA in 1929. The rented room was used for games, reading and meetings. Membership fees raised funds for activities and expenses. In the spring of 1930, the Y moved to 746 College Street into a two-story eight-room wood-framed building and Homer J. Tucker became the executive secretary. This former boarding house provided space for offices, club room, board room, reading room and a game room, and the Y became known as the College Street Branch. By 1935, the YMCA expanded to include the one-story wood-frame building next door to house the Boys Department.
On April 24, 1938, the YMCA observed 50 years of successful operation of the YMCA work among African Americans in the United States. The event was held at the Antioch Baptist Church with a large audience. The College Street Y sponsored Dean R. O’Hara Lanier of the Houston College of Negroes to come to Beaumont to address the attendees.4
By 1940, the College Street YMCA moved into the former Lone Star Dock Workers building at 770 Neches Street and was renamed the Neches Street Branch. This building was originally built in 1925 for the Lone Star Dock Workers Association, composed of members of the International Longshoremen’s Local No. 325 Union. The brick building was three stories tall, 80 feet deep and 40 feet wide with two shops on the ground floor, professional offices on the second floor, and the top floor held the lodge hall with restrooms and anterooms. In 1973, the Y relocated to 3455 Sarah Street and was rechristened on December 17, 1973, as the L.L. Melton Family YMCA after Dr. Laddie L. Melton, a long-time YMCA board member and dentist. In 1965, the board of directors were pursuing integration of the white and Black Ys into a metropolitan form of government with a board of directors and three branch boards. The new Melton YMCA had an outdoor swimming pool and bath house, all-purpose room, three meeting rooms, restrooms, storage and office space, a tennis court, and a Little League ballpark.
Prominent Members of the Beaumont’s Black YMCA
Many members of the African American Beaumont community helped form the YMCA. Below are biographies of some key figures.
Reverend Charles Frank Luckett Nordman Graham
Born in 1889 in British Guiana (now Guyana) in South America, Charles Frank Luckett Nordman Graham immigrated to the United States in 1909, via Colón, Panama, and New Orleans, to attend college at the Tuskegee Institute where he enrolled in September 1909.5 In 1917, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Talladega College, followed by a Bachelor of Divinity degree at Oberlin College in Ohio and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Oskaloosa International College in Iowa.6 He moved to Beaumont to establish a church for the American Missionary Association (AMA) in 1918. The AMA was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded in 1846 in New York, whose purpose was to abolish slavery, educate African Americans, promote racial equality and spread Christian values. It also helped to create and support Black schools and colleges across the South, including Talladega College in Alabama.7
The AMA purchased several lots in the vicinity of Gladys, Mariposa, and Ash (later Louisiana) streets, which it later deeded to the trustees of the Graham Congregational Church. A wood-framed church and Sunday school were built at 1460 Gladys by 1922, while the Rev. Graham resided a block away at 1464 Ash with his wife Ida and their growing family.
Graham was a key figure in the Black community and helped implement the formation of various groups in Beaumont, including the first Boy Scout Troop for Negro youth (1928), the first Black Young Women’s Christian Association (1928), Community Recreation Council (1929), the Barnwell Community Center (1929) – a free medical clinic for African Americans (1932), a Home for Delinquent Negro Youth (1942) and the Beaumont Negro Goodwill Council (1943).8 In particular, the Rev. Graham instigated the discussion for the first Black Young Men’s Christian Association. On May 5, 1928, he held a meeting at his church to interested members of the community to plan the formation of the organization and to raise awareness. A second meeting was held a week later to which Graham invited the secretary of the Beaumont YMCA, Hastings Harrison, for his guidance and endorsement. Graham served as the temporary chairman and on the board of directors.
The Reverend Doctor Charles Graham became a naturalized citizen on March 11, 1943, just a few months before he died on November 18, 1943, at the age of 54. He is buried in Blanchette Cemetery in Beaumont.
Reverend Doctor Homer Julius Tucker
Born on October 30, 1899, in Warrenton, Georgia, to Henry and Lula Tucker, Homer Julius Tucker left the family farm to get an education. He traveled across the country to attend various colleges over the course of his life earning multiple degrees, including Moody Bible School in Chicago (1920); Guillaume Business College in New Orleans (1927); a Bachelor of Arts degree from Virginia Seminary and College in Lynchburg, Va.; Master of Social Work from Atlanta University (1930); Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Sacred Theology from Oberlin College in Ohio (1939); and Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
While getting his education, he worked at various African American YMCAs. According to various articles, Tucker got early experience at the Y in Germantown, Pennsylvania and Lynchburg, Virginia. In 1928, Tucker was working for the West 135th Street Branch YMCA in Harlem, New York City.9 He was the assistant boys secretary at the Butler Street Branch in Atlanta from 1930 to 1931 and also worked for the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company in Atlanta. In late 1931, Tucker was hired to replace Beaumont’s College Street Branch YMCA general secretary George Griffth who was moving to Canada to continue his education. Tucker, along with his wife Loretta “Lora” and son Charles Lee, moved to Beaumont and he started work on December 20.10 He was the board of review chair for the Beaumont Boy Scout Negro Troops as well as serving as scout master for Troop No. 30 and troop committee leader for Troop No. 24.11 He also served as pastor at the Antioch Baptist Church.12 In September 1936, a farewell banquet was held in his honor as he prepared to leave Beaumont for Ohio to attend Oberlin College. Under his leadership, the College Street Branch membership increased from 209 members to 695.13
At Oberlin, Tucker studied for his master’s degree in theology and became a student preacher at Mount Zion Baptist Church where he “worked closely with the Phillis Wheatley Organization, and… worked to insure the hire of the city’s first Black teacher in the Oberlin Public Schools.”14 He was also the director of the Negro Oberlin Community Center.
In 1941, Tucker moved to nearby Cincinnati where he was named executive secretary of the Ninth Street YMCA branch.15 In October 1945, Tucker moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, to be the pastor at the First Baptist Church and the executive secretary at the YMCA. He served as president of the Connecticut State Association of Secretaries of the YMCA, secretary-treasurer of the Bridgeport Pastors Association, and executive board member of the Committee for study of Bridgeport Public Schools.16 In October 1950, although Tucker was still living in Bridgeport, he was now the executive secretary at the Bergen Avenue YMCA in Jersey City, N.J.17 Tucker was also appointed to an official position to the Jersey City YMCA as executive secretary of community services – the first African American to hold that position locally. Dr. Samuel Lipscomb, the general secretary of the Jersey City YMCA, said, “Mr. Tucker is eminently fitted to bring about an integrated, harmonious development of racial cooperation programs to this community.”18 By 1954, the Tucker family moved to Newark, N.J., where Tucker became the pastor at Mount Zion Baptist Church. He served on the Commission for Interracial and Intercultural Advance of the National YMCA Council and was president of the Bridgeport chapter of the NAACP. He wrote his dissertation on integration processes in community group activity. Tucker was instrumental in closing the Black YMCAs in Bridgeport and Jersey City along with developing integrated policies and operations for these branches.19 He was president of the Northern Baptist University of Newark (1951-1960) and served as an educational director for the Federated Council of Churches of New York City. He was awarded a doctorate degree in Human Relations by the YMCA International College in Springfield, Massachusetts, for his pioneering work in integrating YMCA programs during the 1950s.
Dr. Tucker served on various boards including the New Jersey Baptist Convention, the New Jersey Council of Churches, Mayor’s Commission on Intergroup Relations, Essex County Planned Parenthood, the New Jersey San Nuclear Committee, Greater Newark Metropolitan Ecumenical Ministry and National Baptist Deacons Convention of America.20 He was appointed to the Newark Library board of trustees in 1961 – the first African American to receive such an appointment. He received the Rhodes Award for Distinguished Service in Urban Churches from the American Baptist Convention in 1964 for his work at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Newark. According to the church’s website, Tucker was “a scholar and a great humanitarian with a vision for innovative ministry.”21 He led the Newark church from 1954 until his retirement in 1968 and had grown the membership to 400 members. In 1965, he became the director of Urban Work for the American Baptist Convention of New Jersey and later was named the Minister of Public Mission. In 1972, he was elected president of the New Jersey Council of Churches. He was also a professor at Seton Hall College at the time of his death.
Homer J. Tucker died on Sunday, July 9, 1978, at the Overlook Hospital in Summit, N.J.22 Tucker had made arrangements for his body to be donated to the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry for medical research, “an act of faith consistent with his life of service to the quality of life for all people.”23
Dr. Laddie L. Melton, DDS
Laddie Luther Melton was born on September 23, 1898, to Nicholas and Verlinda Melton in Abbeville, Louisiana. In 1912, the Melton family moved to Beaumont, where Nicholas set up a barber shop. Laddie served in the U.S. Army during World War I and attended Tuskegee Institute24 after his military discharge, as well as Straight College in New Orleans, graduating from there in 1919.25 In 1920, Laddie passed the postal exam and became a postal carrier to earn money for college. After eight months of delivering mail and earning $200, he left Beaumont to attend Howard University to major in dentistry with the help of a tuition credit arrangement. During the summers, he worked various jobs to earn tuition money, including working on streetcars and in restaurants in New York City, as a Pullman porter across the country, driving ice cream delivery trucks, in Beaumont’s shipyards, and in cotton fields.26 During his four years at Howard, he lettered in football as a star fullback and in baseball before graduating with Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1924. After graduation, he got a teaching and coaching job at his alma mater Straight College (later Dillard College) and introduced indoor basketball to African Americans in New Orleans.27 He also opened his own dental office at 3000 South Rampart Street. He was active in New Orleans’ civic and social arenas, including serving on the board of directors of the Dryandes Street YMCA.28 After three years in New Orleans, he moved back to Beaumont in 1928 to open his dentistry practice at 576 Forsythe Street (1929-1941), moving it to 755 College (1941-1955), and again to 790 Trinity Street, all in the Forsythe business district.
In 1931, Melton married Bessie Leona Young in Franklin, Louisiana, at the Young family home and they moved into a house at 1780 Gladys Avenue in Beaumont. Bessie was the second daughter of Honorable Frank S. Young and was a graduate of Wiley College. She was a teacher at Louisiana public schools in Franklin and Patterson before becoming her father’s secretary. During the Great Depression, Melton often treated patients for free as well as during other times of need.29 He served as president of the Gulf States Dental Association and was the school dentist for Beaumont African American schools.30
In addition to his career in dentistry, Dr. Melton participated in various civic and religious organizations. He continued his work with the YMCA when he moved back to Beaumont for the next 49 years. Along with his father, Melton helped found the Black YMCA in Beaumont in 1928, starting with a one-room facility of the Trinity Street branch in the Sol White building. He served 46 years on the Y board of management along with various committees, including capital fund campaigns, membership enrollment, metropolitan and branch finance committees, physical committee and boys work committee, as well as 12 years as chairman of the board.31 In honor of his dedication to the YMCA over the decades, the Metropolitan YMCA proclaimed May 21, 1974, as “Dr. Melton Day” and declared that he was “an inspiring leader… who has involved himself in the progressive life of the community” and “directly and indirectly given a greater meaning to life for thousands of youths of this area through his outstanding service.”32
Dr. Melton was a key figure in the founding of the American Legion Post 817 in 1946 and served as its first commander, division leader, and vice commander of the Department of Texas. He was named marshal of the 7th annual United Veterans Day parade. He served in various roles of the United Veterans Council of Beaumont.33 He was a Masonic member of the Prince Hall Shriners, holding positions in local, state and national offices. The Prince Hall Shriners is the African American Shriners organization founded in Boston in 1755, making it one of the oldest Black organizations in the United States.34 The Shriners raise funds for medical research foundations, hospital clinic service, youth needs and voter registration activities. He was elected as deputy imperial potentate in 1975, national imperial potentate of the Prince Hall Shriners in 1976, and then Grand Imperial Potentate of the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of North and South America and the Bahamas in 1977 – the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a Prince Hall Shriner.35 With his elevation to these positions, the national headquarters moved to Beaumont. He was also active in the Boy Scouts, Community Chest (later United Appeals and United Way) as an original organizer, Goodwill Council as a founding member, and Friendship Beaumont.36
Dr. Melton participated in African American civil rights. He was on the restitution committee after the 1943 Race Riot of Beaumont that appraised property losses and raised money to help defray costs for restoring damaged or burned down establishments. He worked behind the political scenes in getting African Americans the right to vote prior to 1944, after which the United States Supreme Court ruled that the ‘whites only’ Democratic primaries that effectively prevented Blacks from voting was unconstitutional. He played a role in bringing about the peaceful integration of Lamar Institute in 1956.37
As an alumnus of Dillard/Straight College, he was a frequent guest there as a speaker and served on the National Alumni Association of Dillard University. At the 100-year anniversary reunion in 1975 of the school’s founding, he delivered the founder’s address where he stressed the important role the college and other private black institutions of higher learning were playing in the development of the minds and potential of American blacks. He said “[o]ur black colleges and universities are a source of pride to all of us who attended one” and “[t]he black colleges are a significant part of this country’s history, our culture, our intellectual foundation and our identity.”38
Dr. Melton was a man of faith and was a member of the Graham Congregational Church. He was a church sponsor, later a moderator of the Plymouth Congregational Conference, and was elected as a delegate to the general council of the Plymouth Conference. He was also a representative of the Negro Congregational Churches in Texas and Oklahoma.39
In March 1987, Dr. Laddie L. Melton suffered a stroke and later died on July 15 at the Baptist Hospital at the age of 88. His memorial service was held at the L.L. Melton Family YMCA at his request and over 500 people attended to pay their respects to the retired dentist and civil rights leader. Beauregard Brown, president of the Golden Triangle Civic League of Southeast Texas said, “[he] developed harmony in the community and promoted social and economic development. He was a leader in the church, a leader in the YMCA and a leader in the city. He took a position that it was better to focus on those things that unite us, rather than the differences between us. He was a healing influence in the community – the cement that kept us together.”40 He is buried next to his wife Bessie in the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Beaumont.
YMCA in Dallas
The history of the Young Men’s Christian Association in Dallas began in 1885 with 24 young men meeting in a church to found the first Dallas YMCA branch for white males.1 The meetings were held at 317 Elm Street. The Dallas YMCA offered programs for “religious services, Indian classes, and an athletic program using dumbbells.”2 As Blacks were excluded from the Dallas YMCA, a group of young African American men established their own YMCA on May 12, 1902, in the Bethel AME Church at 256 Leonard Street in Dallas. Professor Charles Rice was its first president and J.F. Starks was secretary. The board of directors included Daniel M. Mason, Thomas Orman, and John Leslie Patton, Sr. The Black YMCA operated independently of the Dallas YMCA and the national YMCA governing body. The organization lasted from May 1902 to April 1906 with the group meeting in various churches with its last session held in the Odd Fellows Hall at the corner of Flora and Burford streets.3
After several stops and starts, the Black YMCA organization merged with the white Dallas YMCA as a branch organization after World War I with an executive secretary presiding over the branch. Due to the merger, a special meeting was called to reorganize the Black organization into a constituted YMCA and to elect officers. The election resulted in Professor M.M. Rodgers as chairman, S.T. Simpson as vice chairman, J.W. Rice as secretary, and John Leslie Patton, Sr. as treasurer. J.D. Rice was selected as the executive secretary and was the only paid employee of the YMCA, with the board members being required to raise $150 each annually to cover his salary. From 1918 to 1928, the board struggled to keep the organization above water, causing treasurer Patton to note that the Y "has had many dark days, sometimes so dark that they had to feel their way.”4
Moorland YMCA
By 1928, the organization gained momentum and began fundraising for the construction of a dedicated YMCA building to be located at 2700 Flora Street. Black citizens of Dallas were charged with raising $50,000 for the building fund. They embraced the challenge head-on and eclipsed their goal by an additional $25,000, reaching $75,000. The primary campaigners were John Leslie Patton, Sr., Dr. Lee Gresham Pinkston, David B. Garner, and Myrtle B. Anderson. The additional $25,000 raised was donated by the Julius Rosenwald fund for the construction of Black YMCAs. “Dallas was the 24th city to receive money from the organization for a black YMCA.”5
The building was named after the Reverend Jesse Moorland, who was the secretary of the Colored Branch of the YMCA in Washington, D.C. He had a passion for uplifting the African American community and worked tirelessly to fundraise money for the construction of “Colored” YMCAs across the country. The Rev. Moorland helped convince Julius Rosenwald to offer funds for Black YMCA construction, in addition to the Rosenwald schools.6 In 1898, he became an administrator and fundraiser for the Y's "Colored Men's Department" and helped raise over $2 million dollars for 29 new YMCA buildings across the nation.7
Construction of the Moorland YMCA building began when “members of the black grand lodge of the Knights of Pythias of Texas, including Grand Chancellor L. B. Kinchion” laid the cornerstone on April 6, 1930.8 Architects Ralph Bryan and Walter Sharp of Dallas architectural firm Bryan & Sharp designed the Moorland YMCA building as a three-story Italian Renaissance Revival-style red brick building with cast stone detailing. Bryan and Sharp both worked at renowned Dallas architect Herbert M. Greene’s offices before forming the Bryan & Sharp partnership in 1925. Together and separately, they helped design several prominent African American buildings including the Dunbar Library (1931-demolished) and Lincoln High School (1939-extant), along with J. L. Long Middle School (1933-extant), Hall of State at Fair Park (1936-extant), and the segregated whites-only Cedar Springs Place Housing Project (1937-extant). The Moorland YMCA building was completed in 1930, as “the only YMCA for African Americans in the southwest”9 at the time.
By 1935, the Moorland YMCA had 65 members with membership quickly increasing to 948 just two years later. By this point, it was an integral aspect of life for African Americans in North Dallas. In 1947, the organization set a goal of raising $50,000 to expand the auditorium, cafeteria, club room, and dormitories, in order to keep up with increasing membership. The fundraising campaign raised over $65,000, including “$10,000 from Maceo Johnson on behalf of the Negro Wednesday Luncheon Club. In total, the amount raised represented the largest amount ever raised by Negro citizens from Negroes in any campaign in North America.”10
By 1956, the Moorland YMCA had over 2,700 members and was the social, political, cultural, and community center for the Dallas African American community. Throughout the 1950s, the Dallas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) held its public meetings at the Y. The facility offered recreational and educational programs for youth, along with functioning as a gymnasium for local schools. It provided overnight accommodations for African American travelers, who often faced difficulties finding a hotel room. The building had “37 total rooms with 28 singles and 9 doubles all equipped with hot and cold water. European plan. Café. Rates 75¢, $1 daily, $2 weekly.”11 Many notable figures stayed at the YMCA, including Muhammad Ali and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
A 1967 study showed that the African American population had shifted from the North Dallas area over to Oak Cliff area across the Trinity River to the south, probably due to “transportation innovations” – the construction of North Central Expressway that cut across North Dallas in 1949 and the impending construction of Woodall Rogers Freeway, both of which isolated the YMCA from the North Dallas community. To better serve the Black community, the organization relocated to a new $1.5 million campus located at 907 East Ledbetter Drive in Oak Cliff. Opening to the public on July 1, 1973, the new facility stood on a 10.5-acre site and included a “gymnasium, sauna, game and conference rooms, exercise rooms, computer center, tennis courts, swimming pool, baseball and football fields, a playground, and a picnic area.”12 The new Moorland YMCA continued its legacy of serving the community, as in 1997, “nearly 3,000 children used its child care facilities, and more than 1,600 teenagers participated in its many programs.”13 By 2022, a non-profit organization, For Oak Cliff, took over the property, so the building continues to support the African American community. The red brick building on Flora Street became the home of the Dallas Black Dance Theatre in December 2007.
The history of Black Dallas in the 20th century cannot be told without the Moorland YMCA. The original Moorland YMCA building served as a fixture of Dallas life for Black Americans from Y's inception in 1930 to its relocation in 1970. Its history can be seen in the building’s cast stone detailing: "MOORLAND BRANCH,” “MEN,” BOYS,” and the ubiquitous upside-down triangle YMCA logo. The Moorland YMCA building became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 2011.
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Moorland YMCA door with “BOYS” and Y triangle motif (Credit: THC staff)
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Moorland YMCA Building RTHL marker (Credit: THC staff)
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Moorland YMCA Leaders
Many men made the existence of the Moorland Branch YMCA possible. Below are short biographies of a few key men.
John Leslie Patton, Sr.
John Leslie Patton, Sr. was born on December 23, 1872, in Lamar County, Texas. By 1897, Patton was living in Dallas, working as a porter and machinist for American Well Works, where he stayed for over two decades. Around 1900, Patton married Ella Ewell Thomas and they quickly started a family consisting of John Ella, Marguerite, and John Leslie Patton, Jr. In 1915, the Pattons moved into a house at 2605 Cochran Street, where they remained until their deaths in the early 1950s.
At a time when Black people were excluded from the white YMCAs, Patton was a founding member of the first African American YMCA in Dallas in 1902. He served on the board of directors in various capacities over the ensuing years. By 1924, Patton stopped working for American Well Works and worked for Briggs-Weaver Machinery Company for a few years before becoming the secretary-treasurer of the United States Mutual Benefit Association, which was an African American fraternal insurance company, in 1928. As most insurance companies considered Blacks to be “bad risks,” many African Americans could not obtain insurance. To solve this issue, the Black population formed their own insurance companies, such as the United States Mutual Benefit Association.14
In 1928, the YMCA established plans to develop three new branch locations in Dallas – two for whites and one for African Americans – with a capital goal of $50,000 set for the new Black YMCA to be located at 2700 Flora Street. In his role as secretary, Patton was a primary campaigner for the building fund, along with M.B. Anderson, David B. Garner, and Dr. L.G. Pinkston. Patton and his colleagues were successful in raising the required $50,000, in addition to receiving $25,000 from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. The Black YMCA building was completed on April 6, 1930, complete with its cornerstone laid by the Knights of Pythias.15
By 1931, Patton worked for the Moorland YMCA in various roles, such as branch secretary, building superintendent, and vice chairman. He dedicated over four decades of service to the Moorland YMCA, which he regarded as a “unifying agency that teaches group work, philanthropy, offers recreation, and inspires young men. It gives food, clothing, and shelter to those needing it most.”16A hardworking, intelligent, and driven man, Patton was a mainstay of the Dallas community for over 60 years, committed to mentoring young African American men and providing opportunities for them through the Moorland YMCA. John Leslie Patton, Sr. died on August 21, 1951, at 78 years old due to cancer. He is buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery (now Lincoln Memorial Park) in Dallas. His son, John Leslie Patton, Jr. was also a YMCA supporter, as well as a longtime educator and principal at Booker T. Washington High School.
Dr. Lee Gresham Pinkston
Lee Gresham “L.G.” Pinkston was born on August 16, 1883, in Forest, Mississippi, one of five children born to Ritten and Fannie Pinkston. Pinkston attended Meridian Academy in Forest before leaving to attend Alcorn College (now Alcorn State University), a historically Black university and college (HBCU) located in Lorman, Mississippi, for his undergraduate studies.17 After receiving his degree from Alcorn, Pinkston went to Meharry Medical College, another HBCU, located in Nashville, Tennessee. He obtained his medical degree from Meharry in 1909 and moved to Terrell, Texas, to open a private practice clinic in 1910. While there, he met Viola Maria Shaw, and they married on September 11, 1913.18 L.G. and Viola had three children together: Vareta M. Pinkston, Lee G. Pinkston, Jr., and Vernon L. Pinkston. By 1921, Pinkston and his family moved to Dallas, where he worked as a surgeon at the Walter R. McMillan Sanitarium that served the Black community at 2322 Hall Street.19
In 1927, Dr. Pinkston formed a partnership and opened the Pinkston Clinic, one of the few Black-owned and -operated clinics in Dallas. Although the Pinkston Clinic did not have the same resources as the white hospitals at the time, it “remained an essential locus of medical care for the African American population of Dallas.”20 During the modern Jim Crow era, African American doctors could not perform surgeries or care for patients at white hospitals until the 1950s. In 1954, Dr. Pinkston was accepted as a practicing member of St. Paul Hospital in Dallas along with Dr. Frank Jordan, Dr. Joseph Williams, Dr. William Flowers, and Dr. George Shelton, the first Black doctors to receive permission.21
In addition to his medical career, Dr. Pinkston was a civic leader. He was one of the primary donors and fundraisers for the construction of the Moorland YMCA branch in 1930.22 In 1936, he helped found the Democratic Progressive Voters League,23 where he served many years as president or on the executive committee. The league “is one of the oldest Black political organizations in the state of Texas” that allowed Dallas Black to exercise their rights as voting citizens.24
During World War II, Dr. Pinkston was a member of the Dallas County Selective Service Board,25 whose purpose was to “decide who among the registrants in their community would receive deferments, postponements, or exemption from military service based on the individual registrant’s circumstances and beliefs.”26 In 1954, he “received the Dallas Citizen Council Award for his work in medical advancement, interracial achievement, and civic affairs.”27 Dr. Pinkston was an active member in a number of organizations besides the YMCA, including the Dallas County Medical Society, the Negro Chamber of Commerce, the Star Post Newspaper, the Western Mutual Life Insurance Company, and Wiley College board in Marshall.28 Dr. Pinkston died in Dallas on January 6, 1961, after having a heart attack following a car accident. He was buried in Pinkston Cemetery, also known as Glen Oak Cemetery, in Dallas.
David Bernett Garner
David B. Garner was born in rural Chenango, Texas, on November 12, 1881, and the Garner family moved to Houston shortly thereafter. At the age of fifteen, Garner got his first job at the Houston & Texas Central Railway as a dining car cook. He ended up earning $5 per week working there, and by his own account, he was the “highest paid young Negro in town.”29 In 1913, Garner moved from Houston to Dallas and got a job as a cook at Mecca Cafe before becoming a cook at the Federal Reserve Bank in 1915, where he stayed for 26 years before retiring in 1941.30
For Garner’s second career, he served as a “consultant, advisor, and traveling representative” for the State Fair of Texas for 37 years.31 His role was to “boost attendance and heighten awareness of “Negro Achievement Day,” which recognized individual African American accomplishments.”32 As a State Fair representative, he traveled more than 40,000 miles all over Texas handing out 200,000 tickets to Black Texans every year.33
Outside of Garner’s professional career, he participated in various civic organizations focused on the African American community in Dallas. As a charter member of the Moorland YMCA, he received a lifetime honorary membership. One of his notable contributions with the YMCA was helping to raise $50,000 for the construction of the Moorland building in 1930. Garner was a member of the Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce, the Negro Real Estate Board, the NAACP, and the Masonic Lodge.34 He was also a 60-year parishioner of St. John Baptist Church on Allen Street, where he served as a deacon. In his later years, Garner was given the nickname of “Daddy Garner” and was viewed “as an authority on the history of Negro life in Dallas,”35according to a Dallas Morning News article in 1973.
Garner died at home in Dallas on August 3, 1973, at the age of 91. He was buried at Carver Memorial Cemetery (now Carver Memorial Park).40 David B. Garner was a well-respected leader of Dallas society during the 20th century, as his dedication to civic leadership and social justice left a lasting impact on the African American community, as well as on the entire city.
YMCA in San Antonio
Founded by volunteers, the first YMCA group in San Antonio was established in 1876, becoming the city’s first service organization. Ten years later, the first official chapter known as YMCA of Greater San Antonio was created with about 100 members. W.J.B. Patterson was elected president and C.T. Williams served as general secretary.1 The organization’s goal was to support young men and boys who moved into the city seeking employment opportunities. The organization provided not only lodging at its central downtown branch and recreational activities, but also a sense of community and structure for newcomers adjusting to urban life in San Antonio. In its early years, the group relied on borrowed buildings and facilities throughout the city to provide lodging and host various activities. In 1904, Mrs. Sarah R. French donated property on the southwest corner of North Alamo and Third streets, and by 1907, the YMCA completed its first permanent facility.2 In 1925, the Central YMCA moved into a larger building on the northeast corner of East Martin and Navarro streets.
Alamo City Branch YMCA
By 1918, the YMCA of Greater San Antonio initiated programs for the African American community, such as the Negro Boys Club and Boys Community Program, and provided meeting spaces for groups, such as the Youth Council of the NAACP.3 However, the first dedicated African American YMCA branch was not established until 1944 and was called the Alamo City Branch. Its founding can be traced to the efforts of Odie E. Davis, Jr. and a group known as “the 36 Men Club.” Each of the 36 men in the group contributed $100 to start the official branch to fulfill the need for recreational or organized activities for African American children in the community. At first, they aimed to shape the project independently without being governed by an external organization, but eventually a partnership with the YMCA was formed, which allowed them to retain some control while gaining institutional support and resources. They asked the YMCA to match their contributions, creating a collaborative funding model that helped expand the effort.4
The branch was officially established on July 1, 1944, with John T. Braxton serving as executive secretary and W.R. Bryant as chairman.5 By the end of that year, it had enrolled more than 500 boys and girls in group programs. The City of San Antonio supported the initiative by turning over Lindbergh Park in southwest San Antonio to the YMCA to serve as its first headquarters complete with a playground, softball diamonds, tennis courts and a recreation building.6 Activities at the branch included sports and other group programs designed to encourage social interaction, leadership and planning for the future.7 The following year, the branch moved into its first dedicated facility located at 112 Sycamore Street, a two-story brick corner building with a wooden second-floor porch – the former Sylvan Hotel.8
During World War II, the Alamo City Branch partnered with the United Service Organization (USO), which was formed in part by the YMCA, YWCA and other service organizations to provide welfare services for members of the armed forces regardless of race. Following the end of the war, Alamo Branch USO members continued to organize dances, bowling classes and other organized group activities for African American soldiers stationed at Fort Sam Houston and local air bases.9
By 1955, a new branch facility was acquired for $33,000 at 1228 (later renumbered 1730) East Commerce Street using a combination of locally raised funds and a grant from the Myra Stafford Pryor Charitable Trust, which was established in 1945 in honor of San Antonio philanthropist Myra Stafford Pryor and was dedicated to supporting initiatives for underprivileged youth in San Antonio.10 The two-story brick building was remodeled to include a game room and snack bar with a large exterior concrete ball court added at the rear.11 By 1956, the branch had grown to 704 members, with 409 individuals participating in group programs.12 In 1968, the Alamo City Branch held a ceremony to celebrate its final mortgage payment.13 By 1972, the area served by the Alamo City Branch contained 55,000 people and was bounded by San Antonio city limits on the east, IH-35 on the north, North Alamo Street on west and Rigsby Drive on the south. The Y’s membership was 1,452 and it provided 701 sessions with 7,209 people attending.14
In 1951, a camp was purchased for $27,000 and was located just southeast of the city to serve the Alamo City Branch,15 with the branch tasked with raising $2,500 for the down payment and $1,800 per year paid semi-annually. The Black community raised the downpayment in just two weeks.16 Located on Salado Creek near Rigsby Avenue and Cresthill Road, the 18-acre site, known as Camp Alamo, offered general family recreation areas, picnic spaces, and a two-week summer camp for boys.17 Activities included swimming, boating, horseback riding, volleyball, ping pong, badminton, baseball and softball, and an assortment of games, along with classes in first aid, hygiene, music, crafts and church services.18 Large pecan trees shaded the campgrounds and pecans were harvested by campers to raise funds for the branch. In 1955, 1,719 pounds of pecans were sold for $546.19 In 1968, a new dining hall and recreation building was dedicated, consisting of a frame building on concrete slab, adding to the existing lighted baseball diamond, playgrounds, picnic area, dormitory building and other structures. Funds came from the Charity Ball Association ($5,800) and the Myra Pryor Trust Fund ($5,000).20 By 1972, the camp hosted three day camps for three weeks and one city-wide day camp for a seven-week period, serving 500 boys and girls.21
In 1979, the Alamo YMCA relocated to its current site within Pittman-Sullivan Park at 1213 Iowa Street, just a few blocks south of the East Commerce Street location.22 In 1990, the Alamo Branch received national recognition for its leadership and programming through its role in hosting the Kumamoto, Japan-San Antonio Goodwill Games. Fifty years after its founding, the Alamo City Branch YMCA was serving more than 13,000 youths and adults. It had partnerships with the City of San Antonio, San Antonio Fighting Back, Weed ‘N’ Seed and Safe Haven. It conducted outreach programs in local housing projects and initiated a drug education/prevention program, which was designated as a “Star of Texas” program, receiving a Criminal Justice award from the State Attorney General’s office in 1992.23
On August 20, 1994, the branch was officially renamed the Davis-Scott Family Branch in honor of two of its prominent founding members – Odie Davis, Jr. and Dr. Samuel Thomas Scott – with more than 250 people in attendance.24 The Davis-Scott YMCA continues to have a lasting impact on community development, racial equality, and youth empowerment on San Antonio’s East Side.
Leaders of the Alamo City Y
The Alamo City Branch of the YMCA in San Antonio exists due to the efforts of many. Below are biographies of a few pivotal men.
Odie Davis, Jr.
Odie Earnest Davis, Jr. was a pioneering leader in San Antonio’s YMCA movement. He was born in Hempstead on August 7, 1912, to Odie Earnest and Mary Spiller Davis, the youngest of 3 children.25 He attended public schools in Houston before pursuing higher education at Prairie View College, Tuskegee Institute, Texas Southern University, St. Phillip’s College and St. Mary’s University. He later trained for professional YMCA work at George Williams College in Illinois and the YMCA Camp in Estes Park, Colorado.26 Davis moved to San Antonio from Houston in 1942 and played a key role in founding the YMCA’s Alamo Branch in 1944.27 He married Nadine Jefferson in 1949 in Guadalupe County, and they had three children together.
As one of the founders and later a long-time executive director of the Alamo Branch YMCA, Davis served for 28 years (1946-1974), guiding the branch through decades of growth and community engagement.28 His dedication to the establishment of the Alamo City Branch was such that his son, Odie E. Davis III, recalled his father personally transporting children to and from YMCA programs from the branch’s earliest days.29 Under his leadership, the YMCA purchased summer camp sites southeast of the city, relocated the Sycamore Street branch a few blocks further east on East Commerce Street, and constructed a new gymnasium. He organized and coached basketball, baseball and football teams, along with hosting sport tournaments as well. Davis received a plaque in 1961 from the Rainbow League for his faithful service to the baseball players, with the Alamo team winning the Pony League title that year. He encouraged youth participation in civic life, creating opportunities for athletic and social development by hosting the annual fundraiser Sports Dinners with prominent sports figures as guest speakers. The Exclusive Matrons Personality Club honored Davis at its 1966 annual breakfast as “the outstanding Christian worker in the Negro community” for his work at the Alamo Branch Y.30 Davis instigated a cemetery cleanup program of privately owned cemeteries, which was funded by a city grant for its summer youth program. The boys participating received $1.25 per hour for four hours each day for a month; this project continued for several years each summer.31
Beyond his YMCA work, Davis was active in broader community and civic initiatives. He joined the St. Paul Methodist Church when he arrived in San Antonio in 1942, and was a certified Methodist lay speaker and delegate, representing the church in local and regional leadership roles.32 He was appointed as the conference director of United Methodist Men in 1970.33 He also represented the Alamo Chamber of Commerce on the Mayor’s Economic Development Committee, demonstrating his commitment to both youth development and the economic advancement of San Antonio’s East Side. He was also involved in the Brackenridge High School and the Alamo Area Council of Governors Planning Committee.34 In 1965, he served on the executive committee of the Eastside Economic Development Corporation. In 1967, he took part in San Antonio City Council Community Relations Commission discussion on civil disturbance prevention.35 He participated in the United Fund (later became United Way), Negro Chamber of Commerce, Wisemen’s Luncheon Club, Bexar County Democratic Coalition, the NAACP, voter registration drives, and San Antonio ISD Area Citizens Liaison Committee. Even after retiring from the YMCA in 1973, Davis continued to serve the community while working at the Sutton & Sutton Funeral Home.
Odie Earnest Davis, Jr. died of a heart attack on August 8, 1975, and is buried in Paradise North Cemetery in Houston.36 Davis’s leadership helped establish the Alamo Branch as a cornerstone of San Antonio community life, providing vital programs and opportunities for decades. His eldest son, Nathaniel W. Davis, later served as senior program director at the Alamo Branch YMCA, where he carried on the family’s legacy of service for more than 30 years.37
Dr. Samuel Thomas Scott, Jr.
Dr. Samuel Thomas (S.T.) Scott, Jr., born in San Antonio in 1914 to Samuel T. and Adelphia White Scott, was a pioneering community leader whose work helped shape both the Alamo City Branch YMCA and San Antonio’s broader public education system during segregation. After graduating from Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he began a career in education that spanned more than 40 years. Scott later earned a master’s degree from Kansas State University, followed by a doctorate in educational administration from Pennsylvania State University in 1955.
In 1937, Scott married Doris Carol Rayford of Austin, and the couple welcomed their son, Samuel T. Scott, Jr., the following year.38 The couple met at Prairie View College before she started teaching at El Campo after graduation.39 Doris also played an important role in advancing African American education in San Antonio, as she was the first Black teacher in the Northside Independent School District to teach at Valley Hi Elementary School, a predominantly white school, in 1964.40 She previously worked at the West San Antonio Heights Elementary, an all-Black school that closed due to desegregation. She spent two years at Valley Hi and then moved on to Lee, Riverside Park, and Pfeiffer elementaries before retiring in 1978.
Dr. Scott maintained a long-standing commitment to the YMCA Alamo Branch from its founding until his death in 1994. He was an active volunteer in planning and participating in youth sports events and giving talks on education and children. He was also a board member and the Alamo City Branch representative for the Metropolitan Board of the San Antonio YMCA. Recognized as the most successful YMCA fundraising volunteer in San Antonio history, he raised more than $200,000 in support of youth programming, community outreach and facility improvements.41 “He thought raising the money was important because it was needed for the education of youth on the East Side and for African American youths across San Antonio.”42 In recognition of his leadership and advocacy, the Alamo City Branch was renamed the Davis-Scott Family YMCA in 1994, honoring both Dr. Scott and fellow community leader Odie Davis, Jr.43
Dr. Scott served as vice-principal and later principal of the segregated Dunbar and Douglass junior high schools and was made principal of Wheatley High School in 1963. He subsequently became the first Black administrator in the San Antonio school system.44 He was a board member of the San Antonio Teachers Council and served on various committees over the years to study school crowding, textbook content, teacher evaluations, school district rules and regulations, and integration. On the topic of school integration, he noted “segregation is a product of tradition and desegregation a product of the courts. Integration, he said, must be a product of the people.”45 He was named to a subcommittee to study and report on local school conditions as part of the Hale-Aikin Committee appointed by Governor Price Daniel in 1957.46 He was an active member of the Alamo District Texas State Teachers Association and the Bexar and Adjoining Counties Teachers Association. In 1960, he was part of a Harvard University study on the roles and duties of school principals throughout the United States.47 Scott later served as assistant superintendent of the San Antonio Independent School District and as president of the San Antonio Administrators and Supervisors Association before he retired in 1982.
In addition to his leadership in youth and education, Scott played significant roles in local nonprofit organizations, including his appointment to the Municipal Planning Commission on the San Antonio Housing Authority Board in 1953.48 In 1957, he was elected to the board of the Community Guidance Center of Bexar County, which was a nonprofit organization for the treatment of emotionally disturbed children. In 1966, he was a member of the interfaith board of directors of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.49 A long-time member of the Second Baptist Church, he served as the superintendent of the Sunday School and was a trustee board member. In 1967, he was appointed to the board of Bexar County Mental Health and Mental Retardation program and appointed to the Draft Board No. 146 in San Antonio the same year.50 After retiring in 1982, he continued his civic engagement through work with the United Negro College Fund, the Carver Cultural Center, the NAACP, Phi Delta Kappa fraternity, the Witte Museum, the San Antonio Heart Association’s education committee, and the San Antonio Museum Association’s education committee.51 He also helped establish the Bexar County Teachers Credit Union, expanding financial access for educators across the region and served as director of the Bexar County Federal Credit Union.52
Dr. Samuel Thomas “S.T.” Scott died on August 22, 1994, two days after the dedication of the Davis-Scott Family YMCA and was buried in San Antonio’s City Cemetery No. 3.53 Following his death, the National YMCA and YMCA of San Antonio established the Dr. S.T. Scott Scholarship Fund, which provided high school seniors and college freshmen with summer employment opportunities through the YMCA.54 His son, Samuel T. Scott III, was a Prairie View A&M College architectural engineering graduate and a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, serving overseas with the U.S. Foreign Service. He continued his father’s legacy with the YMCA upon returning to San Antonio in 2000. He later became a board member of the Davis-Scott Family YMCA and received the Red Triangle Award in 2008 for his dedicated service to San Antonio’s East Side community.55
Dr. Scott’s motto was “anything worth doing is worth doing well.”56
Dr. William Virgil Hurd
Dr. William Virgil “W.V.” Hurd was a prominent San Antonio dentist, World War I veteran, and civic leader known for his work with the Alamo City Branch of the YMCA. Born on April 27, 1894, in Henderson, he was the son of George and Martha Jane Hightower Hurd and the brother of Minnie E. Hurd Watley.57 In 1917, he was in Austin, living with and working for dentist Lewis M. Mitchell, Jr.58 By 1919, he moved to Palestine to start his own dental practice, and while there he married Myrtle A. Roberts.
Following his service in World War I, Hurd sustained a successful dental career, briefly first in Palestine as he gave a presentation in Houston at the Colored Teachers Association in 1920 as the Palestine representative of the Texas Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association. The Hurds moved to San Antonio by 1922,59 where he opened his dental office in the UBF building at 608 East Commerce Street, where he provided care to the city’s Black community for approximately 40 years.60 His practice appeared in the 1947 and 1949 Travelguide booklets, reflecting its role as a reliable source of dental care for Black travelers and the local community during segregation.61 Hurd often spoke at local organizations promoting dental health, and treated children at the local Black public schools in San Antonio.62 He was a member of the District Medical Association (Colored),63 the Texas Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association – serving on the board for multiple years, and the National Dental Association. He was elected twice as president of the Gulf State Dental Association of Texas64 and co-hosted its 8th annual conference in San Antonio in 1944.65 As with other medical professions, dentistry was segregated throughout the South during the Jim Crow era. Although Black physicians in San Antonio were finally permitted to apply for membership in the Bexar County Medical Society in 1953, the Bexar County Dental Society lagged behind, ostensibly due to lack of Black applicants as well as the state dental convention by-laws, although Black dentists were permitted to, and did, attend local meetings. His wife, Myrtle, was an active member of the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Texas Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association and the Ladies Auxiliary of the Gulf State Dental Association.
In addition to his dental practice, Hurd was an active member of the Alamo City Branch of the YMCA as early as 1946. He devoted more than 11 years to the YMCA as chairman of the committee of management and six years as the Southwest area representative to the YMCA National Board.66 He attended the 12th annual Southwest area council of the YMCA meeting in Fort Worth in 1949, where he was appointed as an alternate member to the national council meeting to be held in Washington, D.C. later in the year.67 In 1952, he was elected to serve on the national YMCA board at the Southwest area council meeting in Oklahoma City.68 He also played a prominent role in membership campaigns, often winning membership and fundraising quotas. He figured prominently in the acquisition and development of the 18-acre Camp Alamo.69 His sustained service earned him the YMCA’s Distinguished Service Award in 1957, one of the organization’s highest honors.70
Hurd was also engaged in other religious, social and fraternal institutions in San Antonio. He was a charter member of the local Negro American Legion.71 He served as a trustee of Second Baptist Church and as Sunday School superintendent for 15 years. He was active in the United Fund campaign, the Van Courtland Social Club, the NAACP, Boy and Girl Scouts, and the San Antonio Negro Little Theatre, where he was elected treasurer in 1930 and served for several years in that role.72 He was a founding member of the Children’s Health Protective Association in 1933, along with fellow dentist Dr. Lewis M. Mitchell and physician Dr. Charles A. Whittier.73 He served on the board of directors of the Negro Boys Club, as well as being a founding member in 1939.74 A founding charter member of the Psi Alpha Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, established in 1940, Hurd served as the chapter’s Basileus from 1945 to 1957, which was the longest tenure in its history, and he was a 32nd-degree Mason.75 Hurd was an active member of the national non-profit Community Chest organization, leading efforts to fundraise in the Metropolitan E division, raising $2,467 in 1953 – over 105 percent of his allocated quota.76 He was also a founding member of the Good Government League in 1954 and served on the board of directors for a number of years.77
Dr. Willliam Virgil Hurd suffered a stroke and died on May 7, 1961, at the Santa Rosa Medical Center in San Antonio and was buried at Eastview Cemetery.78 A memorial dinner held in his honor featured prominent speakers, including Dr. Jess MacLeay, director of athletics at Trinity University; Bubba Reed of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Bexar County Division; and W.J. Nicks, athletics director of Prairie View College.79 In recognition of his extensive service, the Dr. W.V. Hurd Gymnasium at the Alamo City Branch YMCA was named in his honor in 1972, commemorating his many years of dedicated service to the YMCA at local, regional and national levels.80