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Administrative Records. Board of directors meetings, 1982, 1984, 1987-1992, 1995.

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Butler Street YMCA (Atlanta, Ga.)

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This folder contains materials created/collected by the Butler Street YMCA, which was founded in 1894 when a group of young men met in the basement of the Wheat Street Baptist Church to formalize the YMCA association. The historic building on Butler Street was built in 1920 and included 48 dormitory rooms, seven class rooms, a small auditorium, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, shower baths, and a café. As a historically black organization, Butler Street YMCA allowed visitors of color to find clean, safe accommodations during the Jim Crow era and beyond. Often referred to as the ""Black City of Hall of Atlanta,"" the Y was home to many of Atlanta's key business and civic leaders, educators and professionals, and a significant influence in the African American community of the city for many years. Vernon Jordon, Maynard Jackson, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were among the many well-known black leaders who relied on the Butler Street Y as a meeting place and community center. The Butler Street YMCA also housed the city's first black police precinct as well as the Black Atlanta Teachers Union, The Atlanta Medical Society, the Empire Real Estate Board, and the Atlanta Voters League. It worked closely with the city of Atlanta on efforts to minimize crime in the city in the 1980s and 90s. Originally one of hundreds of YMCAs founded by and serving primarily African American communities, by the early 2000s it was among just seven ""Heritage Ys"" still operating. In the 1990s the Butler...
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