The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1910-04-29
(cai.ISaed .EFIS1N.Pa1e one.l
spectins t 4 i "a. buildings located,
there: 9gfs
wasliS gt6p, conHsllsyllle, Pitts
burg and tKses. RssEslsPa., Akron

Dul6 Stahfe lASAAHSSesr ~ 2
and Youngstown Ohio
Our tour Of inspection proved to be
Illuminating as much with reference
to be avoided in the construction of
Y. M. c. A. buildings as to features to
be included in them.
Your committee, found that quite a
number Of comparatively new assocta.
ton buildings had assigned to store
rooms and business Offices their most
valuable spsce,snd,wsre operating sunF,
der dificultiess Beeaase tief&sal Sse9.
citation features we're located on the
upper fioorss GIG Ia ldri6: .insssdcs ID
BACK Eeoms upaattrsBs est to members z
apd1difteplt OF access, we found tRq,
that this type of piElding tl " not yield yield
any more hincoRe, .tal The fafsosciiPp tiop1
owning them than did buildings in
which the principal qfeapresy Of j lh ,se
association work were kept f6remoss
Investigation into theI dpEmitopy
feature. Of Y. M. G. "A. work convinced
your committee that mot only is this
satisfactory solutioas6E ting fnc6aa
problem. but valuable and necessary
adjunct Of every modern association.
We found that bed room. III asspeta.
tion buildings are apbfeeiateF 81
young men new to the communities IN
Which they live, and that the average
experience in association practice is
that 9S per cent of all the available
rooms are rented continuously. In a
growing city like Fairmont, always de-
ficient in accommodations of this kind,
your committee considered that ap-
proximately fifty bed rooms should be
provided in the new building,
We found no successfully conducted
associations that did not provide am
ply for the social and recreatiVe ne
cessitles Of its community. Our pro.
vision in the local building for a spa,
cious lobby swith' room for games and
reading, and in the basement for bowl.
ing and swimming was founded entire.
ly on what we saw in the successfully
operated buildings elsewhere.
In planning the, gymnasium and
baths your committee brought to its
assistance the services S9experts ac-
customed to planning structures Of
this character. WeiaAsye provided
space for a swimming pool, though We
knew we had not the funds with which
to Immediately construct 1t, believing
that when the community at large
realizes what an invaluable aid to
physical health and safety the aver.
age Y. M. C. "A. swimming pool can be
made to be, that the comparatively
small amount necessary to insure It's
construction will not be lacking.
To sum up the conclusions at which
your committee arrived as a result OF
its. study, we might say that every.
where we found a pronounced tenden.
cy to get away from store rooms and
large auditoriums, and the disposition
to provide amply the club.like features
calculated to make characterization the
efficient instrument of the Churches
which it is intended .tolbe we soon
learned that with the funds subscribed
1t would be absol1telyaimp to
erect a structure OF this kind, and that
either we w6uldshaye to proceed upon
a cheap and inadequate basis or build
considerably in excess Of funds imme.
diately available. Concrete evidence
Of this fact was found in the modern
buildings recently erected in the fol.
lowing cities:
Richmond, Ind, population $4,000;
cost Of building, s125OOo,t
Lafayette, Ind, population 10000;
cost Of building, 100000
Madison, NJ u population 5000
cost Of building, 10000, S..
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