Colored YMCA

In 1905, L.H. Spivey, T.M. Fairchild, E.O. Smith, and several Negro leaders meet with William A. Hunton the National Colored Secretary to discuss establishing a Houston YMCA for Negros. These Houston leaders continued to meet on Sundays for many years; however, their initial quest to establish a Y failed until the National War Work Council established the Colored Soldiers and Sailors Branch of Houston Young Men’s Christian Associations of the United States in 1918. The Colored Soldiers and Sailors Branch of Houston Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was housed on the third floor of the Lincoln Theatre under the leadership of Professor Howard Payne Carter to provide fraternal and Christian fellowship for Houston’s Colored soldiers and sailors returning from World War I.