Local History

The YMCA has been in existence in Old Town for better than 125 years serving the needs of the community and surrounding area. Below is a historic time-line and several facts of different periods throughout its history.

·         1890 – The YMCA started by meeting in the vestry of the Congregational Church

·         1893 – The Samuel Bradbury Fund was established, leaving $2,000 to the YMCA

·         1897 – The first membership dues were established at 25 cents per year.

·         1918 – The will of Jessie Godfrey left a home to the YMCA. This became the Main Street facility which allowed for expanded programs and offerings for all Y members.

·         1948 – The first professional YMCA Director, Roger Blood, was hired. Old Town and State YMCAs merged to create the Northern Central District YMCA.

·         1956 – A significant addition to the Main Street facility was a steel frame gymnasium built through the generosity of Herbert E. Sargent a longtime supporter of the YMCA. This additional space opened up new opportunities to expand the sports program and other recreational opportunities. Youth of all ages found the Y to be a safe and fun place to hang out for hours on end. A New Director, Robert Coe, took over the operations and expanded youth sports programs with assistance from Bob Messier.

·         1960 – Weekend Teen Dances became very popular in serving a social need of the area youth.

·         1963 - The Hi-Y and Tri-Hi-Y Clubs flourished, providing a club experience developing leadership skills for teen boys and girls. A new swim program was established at Gilman Falls with assistance of the Orono – Old Town Kiwanis Club.

·         1965 – Sewall Park was used as the Y’s first day camp with 83 children in attendance.

·         1974 – The Old Town and Orono Boards of Directors recognized the benefits of joining their programs and resources and merged as one YMCA for the area. Around this same period, the need for additional space was evident and the Y began using an adjacent building (an old A&P Store) to expand its gymnastics and exercise programs.

·         1977 – The Old Town – Orono YMCA became an independent Association. The YMCA continued to expand its programs and membership and realized the need for a larger and more modern facility. Ralph Leonard chaired the first capital drive to build a new facility. The Y purchased the vacant W.T. Grants building located in the shopping center on Stillwater Ave and began transforming the structure into a modern YMCA.

·         1979 – The new YMCA opened on September 6, 1979 much to the delight of its staff, members and the community as a whole.

·         1980’s – The YMCA began offering two State Licensed Childcare Programs which have continually grown.

·         1991 – In this year the Old Town – Orono YMCA Foundation was established as a tax exempt entity for the express purpose of encouraging, receiving, investing and managing contributions to support the current and future physical and program needs of the Y. The Foundation provides 5% of its annual total value of unrestricted funds to support the Y’s annual budget.

·         1995 – The need for an in house swimming pool with an emphasis on therapy was identified and once again the community rose to the occasion and support the building of the Herb Sargent Therapeutic Pool. This additional pool in the community, featuring warmer water and easy access, began serving all Y members but especially the younger children and older generation.

·         2000 – The needs of a growing and successful gymnastics program and a place for all age groups to walk, run and exercise led to the addition of the Cyr Family Field House and Doug Springer Workout Center. A generous lead gift from Joe and Sue Cyr provided a significant push to having a successful fund raising campaign. The campaign, along with amazing volunteer labor provided throughout the project, allowed the Y to open this 1.6 million dollar facility debt free.

·         2000+ - Throughout this period the Y continued to modify existing facilities to better meet their needs and address energy issues. A generous gift from Joe and Sue Cyr allowed the Y to install a Co-Gen plant to provide heat and electricity to its facility at a huge savings.

·         2013 – YMCA receives donation of gymnasium floor from the Bangor Auditorium which allowed for the replacement of the original aging floor.

·         2014 – The YMCA saved the Community Pool from closure by signing a ten year lease contract. The local pool has been and continues to be an integral part of the YMCA competitive swim program which has been very successful over the years and has served thousands of Y members.

Currently the Y serves a population of 3,000 members and many more visitors. The members are infants, youth, teens, adults, families and seniors. The service area includes Old Town, Orono, Milford, Bradley, Greenbush, and Alton. The Y has an operating budget of over $1.9 million dollars and raises more than $100,000. 00 each year to provide assisted memberships to families in need. The Y offers one of the largest and most diversely programmed facilities in the State of Maine. With more than 80,000 square feet of space, the facility includes: a full size gymnasium, a field house with walking and running tracks along with an extensive gymnastics area, a warm water therapeutic pool, a fitness studio, an indoor rock climbing room and an indoor turf field, batting cage, a large workout center with modern equipment along with several recreational rooms and numerous childcare areas. An important activity that continues to be critical  to  YMCA members is the Preschool Childcare Program that serves more than 60 preschoolers from age 2-5 years old. In addition, an After School Activity Program is serving over 100 students each year. The YMCA currently has two school buses provided by Cyr Bus which are used to transport the students from Old Town, Milford, Bradley, Alton and Orono. During the summer months there is a Summer Day Camp offered for school-aged children, including a Leadership Camp for teens.