Ninth Street Branch YMCA (Side 1)
In 1901, George Foster Peabody and his brothers made an offer to the colored men and boys of Columbus to build a YMCA on the condition they raise $1,000, purchase a building lot and get membership of 300 men. On Sunday, April 28, 1901, a mass meeting at St. James AME Church was held and the Ninth Street Branch YMCA was founded with 178 men. About 1902 the lot at 903 Sixth Avenue was purchased. Mr. Peabody and his brothers donated $20,000 to the colored people of Columbus to build the YMCA in 1907. At that time, it was the second modern Negro YMCA building in the country and the first in the South.
Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, Alfonso Biggs, and the Historic Columbus Foundation, Inc., 2002
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Byron Hooks of Lat34North.com.