Turner, a secretary for the Seattle YMCA, was hired to raise funds for Yakima's facility. YMCA organizers were particularly interested in offering these young men an alternative to socializing in North Yakima's saloons. Construction on the Yakima Project began in 1906. Organizers anticipated that the new facility would be especially useful to construction workers building the irrigation canals that were part of the National Bureau of Reclamation's Yakima Project. Dudley was elected president of the board. The completion of the facility brings to fruition two years of steady fundraising efforts on behalf of the board of directors, and gives Yakima men and boys a place to meet and socialize.Ī group of community leaders had formed a steering committee to guide the planning process and raise funds for the facility in 1906. On September 1, 1908, the Yakima YMCA opens on S 4th Street near Yakima Avenue in North Yakima.
