Other Books
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Building Character, Stories from Orillia’s Remarkable YMCA, 1872-1955
Orillia’s YMCA was ahead of it’s time. Founded in 1872 in the village of 2,000 people, it gradually established itself as the foremost social welfare institution in a bustling and progressive town. By 1911 there was a picture of the Orillia YMCA hanging on the wall at the National YMCA Training Centre in Springfield, Massachusetts, with the title, “Finest Small Town YMCA in North America”. What are it’s claims to fame? Many:
Building Character outlines the fascinating history of an institution that did not recognize it’s limitations. Orillia’s Y forged ahead with overly-optimistic plans again and again, only to succeed every time. This success was truncated suddenly with the advent of financial recession in the 1920’s and then the Great Depression in the 1930’s. But, determined leadership from Skid Watson through those years inspired the Y to re-discover it’s swagger, embarking on new programs. By the 1950’s the YMCA was firmly established as a central player in Orillia’s community life, with a reputation second to none. |
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