The William A. Hunton Branch YMCA was founded in 1928, as the only YMCA available to African Americans in the City of Roanoke. The YMCA offered many recreational and social activities for Roanoke’s Black community and has been an essential institution in the Gainsboro neighborhood since its founding.
Its first location was in a house on Wells Avenue—a bronze marker in the sidewalk now commemorates this site. L. A. Lee served as the first branch director. In 1941 the Hunton Branch YMCA moved to the former Odd Fellows Hall on the corner of Gainsboro Road and Patton Avenue. On the third floor the building housed a weight lifting and boxing room; meeting rooms, a recreation room, and offices were on the second floor; and ping-pong tables and pool tables were in the youth department.
The first YMCA Father and Son Banquet was held in 1932 at the Dumas Hotel. In the 1940s, as attendance for the banquet grew, the location was moved to the Star City Auditorium. The Banquet has remained the YMCA’s longest standing tradition honoring both family bonds and the history of Roanoke’s African American community.
In the late 1950s it became apparent that the Odd Fellows Hall was inadequate to facilitate many of the Hunton Branch YMCA’s programs and activities. In the 1960s the YMCA began fundraising for a larger facility. However, it was not until 1986 that the Hunton Branch YMCA moved to its current location on Orange Avenue. The old YMCA building on Gainsboro Road and Patton Avenue was destroyed by fire in 1991.
In 1964 segregation at YMCA facilities ended and Roanoke’s Black community was invited to use the Central YMCA in Downtown Roanoke.
To see more photographs from the William A. Hunton Branch YMCA, please visit the Roanoke Public Libraries’ online collection. http://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/WilliamAHuntonBranchYMCA
Sources
Batten, F. (n.d.). Will a real ‘Y’ please stand up? Hunton ‘making do’ since ‘41. The Roanoke Times. Gainsboro Branch Library Vertical Files, Roanoke, VA, United States.
Brown, R. (1991, June 27). Burned Y full of memories. The Roanoke Times.
Gibson, W. (1991, December 5). YMCA’s father-son banquet too important to miss. The Roanoke Times.
Percy Keeling, former YMCA director, dies. (1990, May 30). The Roanoke Times.
William A. Hunton Y.M.C.A. Golden Anniversary Program. (1978). [Program]. William A. Hunton Y. M. C. A. Gainsboro Branch Library Vertical Files, Roanoke, VA, United States.
YMCA hosts 80th annual Father Son & Family Banquet. (2012, March 22). The Roanoke Star. https://theroanokestar.com/2012/03/22/ymca-hosts-80th-annual-father-son-family-banquet/
YMCA of the Blue Ridge. (n.d.). Event History [Document]. Gainsboro Branch Library Vertical Files, Roanoke, VA, United States.