This organization was founded in 1881, and moved into its new building on Main Street in 1894. The building is well equipped for Association work, containing social parlors, library, game room, bowling alleys, gymnasium, and baths. Evening educational classes, lectures, practical talks, concerts, and entertainments represent the social and intellectual life of the Association. The large, well–lighted, and attractive reading room on the first floor, well supplied with daily papers and magazines, is free to all men, and is frequented by 6,000 annually. The Boys’ Branch of the Association is one of the most encouraging features of the work, and now numbers nearly 200 boys, between the ages of eleven and seventeen. The Association conducts services in Music Hall on Sunday afternoons to an average attendance of 600.The Presidents of the organization have been: John C. Havemeyer, G. Livingstone Morse, Rev. Lyman Cobb, Jr., Rev. Henry M. Baird, D.D., LL.D., John T. Sproull, W. W. Ellsworth, Theodore Gilman, George D. Mackaye, H. Beattie Brown, M.D., and H. A. Bates. The present officials are: George R. Brown, President; John T. Waring, Vice–President; Frank B. Hickey, Recording Secretary; J. Gelston Affleck, Treasurer, and Walter F. Haskett, General Secretary.The objects of this organization are to provide for the temporal, mental, moral, and spiritual welfare of young women, especially those dependent upon their own efforts for support. The Association has a home at No. 30 Prospect Street, which is open daily from 9 A. M. to 9 P. M. The present quarters are inadequate, and efforts are now being made to provide a more suitable home.Sunday afternoons a children’s Bible class is held at 3 o’clock; and at 4 o’clock a song service for women takes place, followed by a gospel talk by a pastor or Christian worker. Bible classes and prayer meetings are held during the week, the latter being often conducted in homes in different sections of the city. One of the pleasant features of the Association’s life is the informal socials and entertainments which frequently take place. Instruction is given in English, German, arithmetic, plain sewing, dressmaking, and music. An employment agency and boarding house bureau are maintained, and a lunch room is conducted at 64 Moquette Row for the benefit of the operatives at the Moquette Mills. Hot lunches are provided at a nominal price, and this branch of the work is greatly appreciated.
The present officers of the Association are: Miss Lillian M. Clark, President; Miss M. E. Lilienthal, First Vice–President; Mrs. Theodore Gilman, Second Vice–President; Mrs. E. R. Holden, Recording Secretary; Trustees, Theodore Gilman, James G. Beemer, J. G. Affleck, W. Palmer East, Rev. David Cole, D.D., F. D.Harris; Advisory Board, Charles R. Otis, Philip Verplanck, Norton P. Otis, Albert Bunker, F. Sherman Gould, Dr. Benjamin W. Stilwell, James W. Raynor; General Secretary, Miss M. L. Waters.
