Part of Bronzeville’s former Wabash YMCA, a historic building known as the birthplace of Black History Month, is being restored thanks to a grant from a federal African American civil rights program.
The $436,375 grant will go to The Renaissance Collaborative, a community-based social services organization now headquartered in the former Wabash YMCA that was founded in 1992 to save the landmark from being demolished. The grant comes from the Historic Preservation Fund, a federal grant program administered by the National Park Service.
The grant will pay to restore the 1936 mural in the building titled “Mind, Body, Spirit” painted by Harlem Renaissance artist William Edouard Scott, and renovate a gym used by the Harlem Globetrotters, a pool where countless African Americans learned to swim and various meeting rooms throughout the building.
William Edouard Scott’s 1936 mural called “Mind, Body, Spirit” is inside the former Wabash Avenue Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Chicago, which now houses The Renaissance Collaborative Inc. in the Bronzeville neighborhood. A federal grant will be used to restore and renovate the historic building.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
The renovation is set to begin in August and will take about three months to complete, said Donnie Brown, a development consultant with The Renaissance Collaborative. Most of the recreational portion of the building will remain open, while some areas will be closed during the construction.
“It’s necessary that we provide mind, body and spirit back within this community,” Brown said.
Opened in 1913, the Wabash YMCA offered a sense of hope and community to thousands of Black men who moved to Chicago from the South in search of economic opportunities during the Great Migration, said Lionel Kimble, a history and Africana studies professor at Chicago State University.
A photo of the former Wabash Avenue Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Chicago, which now houses The Renaissance Collaborative, Inc. in the Bronzeville neighborhood. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
“When folks would get off the trains downtown, one of the first places they would come was to the Wabash Y,” Kimble said.
During the first half of the 20th century, the building quickly became a hub of progress and empowerment, serving as a space where African Americans could find jobs and housing while organizing for civil rights and racial justice, Kimble said.
In 1926, historian and activist Carter G. Woodson announced the first Negro History Week to be held on the second week of February at the Wabash YMCA, according to Kimble. The week served as a precursor for Black History Month that would become nationally recognized about 50 years later.
The historical importance of the building as a center for the Black community and its connection to the Great Migration has led to its recognition as a historic landmark.
The gym that will be renovated at the former Wabash Avenue Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Chicago. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
When The Renaissance Collaborative Inc. gained ownership of the building in 1992, staff sought to convert the space into housing for the homeless and a space for community programs. After about a decade of restoration projects that cost approximately $11 million, the building reopened in 2000 and was split into a residential section and a recreational section with separate entrances.
The residential section, known as Renaissance Apartments, consists of 101 units of affordable housing and support services geared toward adults who were previously homeless.
Though the federal grant focuses on the recreational portion of the building, Brown said renovation of the residential section of the building will take place as part of a federal program aimed at preserving affordability of the apartments for an additional 15 years.
The residential renovations will take about a year, but the building will continue to house people during the projects, Brown said.
The announcement of the federal grant comes as some internal changes are happening at The Renaissance Collaborative. The organization on Friday welcomed Oji Eggleston as its new executive director following the retirement of Patricia Abrams, the group’s founding executive director.
Eggleston said he looks forward to taking on the role and ensuring the next 30 years of the organization are as successful as the previous 30 years under Abrams.
Oji Eggleston, the new executive director of The Renaissance Collaborative Inc., smiles during a press conference at the former Wabash Avenue Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Chicago, which now houses The Renaissance Collaborative Inc. in the Bronzeville neighborhood. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
“We’ve already started planning, we’ve identified potential partners and vendors to start taking on some of that work,” Eggleston said.
Kimble said he’s excited about the renovations and is grateful for the many Black activists who gathered in the building throughout the decades and worked to advance civil rights.
“We’ll continue to walk in the footsteps of those individuals who did so much for us as Black people and as Black scholars and as a Black community,” Kimble said. “I think it’s important that our children can use some of these things as well.”