On March 26, 1886 The YMCA was opened in Grand Forks, ND. It was organized through the collaboration of six churches within the community, who each appointed a pastor as a lay member to help establish the YMCA. These volunteers determined that the YMCA should “promote the moral welfare, the social, intellectual, and physical benefit of young men”. The first YMCA offered group devotions, singing, prayer, reading rooms and gym. Today, the Grand Forks YMCA Family Center is open to men, women and children of all faiths, races, abilities, ages and incomes.
