This photo of the modern day YMCA of Parkersburg shows the expansion with the Basketball Gym, Aerobics Gym, Indoor Pool and new fitness center. The Parkersburg YMCA is celebrating its 120th anniversary under its current charter. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG –The Parkersburg YMCA has been serving the community for over 120 years.

The Parkersburg YMCA is celebrating the 120th Anniversary of its current charter.

“The YMCA, born of an ecumenical movement, has served Parkersburg, Wood County, and the Mid-Ohio Valley for 120 years,” said Jeff Olson, President and Chief Executive Officer for the YMCA of Parkersburg, W.Va. “It is a privilege to be part of a mission of promoting Christian principles for All and an international Movement that is the YMCA.”

Olson said they continue to be honored to be a part of the local community.

“Our service to the community is what we are called to do,” he said. “We thank the community for all of their support and look forward to our future.

The YMCA of Parkersburg building located on Eighth Street between Market and Juliana Streets. It was a four-story building and housed the first indoor swimming pool in West Virginia from 1906 to 1961. (Photo Provided)

“As a catalyst, collaborator, and convener for positive change, the YMCA will continue to serve individuals, families, and communities in the Mid-Ohio Valley and West Virginia.”

There were a couple of charters before the current one but they did not last as long with the first of those coming into being in 1867, a couple of years after the Civil War. The Parkersburg YMCA was the first YMCA in West Virginia and the first with an indoor swimming pool when it was originally located where the current Parkersburg Catholic Elementary is located.

Although there have been changes to the mission, the goal has remained to help the people in the community.

“It has been 120 years with this charter, but I feel the last two years have been the most impactful for us in turning around our financials, developing new programs and changing how the Y operates, becoming less of a fitness center and becoming more of a community center,” said Solomia Wilson, Director for Marketing and Communications.

Each YMCA is run at the local level and addressing the needs of their individual community, she said.

The ground breaking of the current YMCA building on Broad Street in 1966. The YMCA of Parkersburg has grown its services over the years and includes fitness, after-school programs, tutoring and more. (Photo Provided)

Program Director Criss Welshans said they are continually looking for new ways to serve the community.

“Our history and our legacy in the community as we have been serving this community for the last 120 years under this charter and as far back as 1867,” she said. “We are striving to keep up with the community needs and the changing needs of the valley.”

The needs have changed over the years as the needs of the community have changed.

When the area shut down due to COVID, their doors remained open for their childcare services, especially for emergency first-responders, she said.

“We had staff here every day,” Welshans said.

A photo of the original board of the YMCA of Parkersburg 1902. (Photo Provided)

Wilson said they have also been doing updates to their building on 30th Street which was originally built in the 1960s. They have recently done a pool renovation (new liner for $120,000, plumbing and more) to their indoor pool. They put in a new $133,000 playground for the benefit of their childcare programs which was completed this past spring.

They recently started the Rock Steady Boxing program which can benefit people who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. The Y has the Parkinson’s Support Group’s meetings each month.

The Parkersburg YMCA has a Middle School Archery program for kids ages 10-14, a Pickleball Tournament, clinics for youth basketball, Tae Kwon Do, individual and group swim lessons, Gym Class Next Door for homeschooled and alternative learning students, after-school programming offered at 11 locations, tutoring, middle school volleyball league, 3 on 3 basketball tournaments, personal training, group fitness classes and more.

They are trying to raise money to renovate their locker rooms which are still the original lockers. They are in the middle of a capital campaign to raise $1 million to fund the work, Welshans said.

There are plans to create a teen center in the future.

“We are trying to make the Y that cool place to hang out at again,” Welshans said.

They are looking at building partnerships through the community with other organizations to provide needed services, including hosting their first Red Cross Blood Drive, helping with food drives, doing work with the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program, staff will be helping with building a house for Habitat For Humanity and more.

The Y is continually looking at ways to offset their costs so there will be more funds for programming and scholarships for afterschool programs and swim lessons.

Wilson said the YMCA of Parkersburg has had it shares of ups and downs, including a period about five years ago where they had some difficulties they were able to turn around.

The YMCA has a legacy in this and many communities as they have continually been able to adapt to changing times, Welshans said.

“How many businesses do you know that have been around for 120 years,” she asked. “The community needed us then and they still need us today.

“We are finding ways to reinvent ourselves to be here another 120 years serving our community. Things are different now because the needs are different.”

During the pandemic, it was helping to deliver meals to seniors who were homebound, they called their senior patrons to see how they were or if they needed anything and did what they could as the Y had to find new ways to serve during those times when things were shut down.

Those days also reprioritized things for them in how they provide needed services around the community, Wilson said.

“We are consistently here to serve,” she said.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com