DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place — so let's get into it. Now, every great story needs a beginning, and this one starts the way the best Texas stories do: with a community deciding it wasn't going to wait around for somebody else to step up. Early in the twentieth century, Houston's African American community had a vision — recreational facilities for their youth, and for the African American troops stationed over at Camp Logan.
That's where this whole thing gets set in motion. Several groups started forming, the way movements do, each one pulling in the same general direction. You had the Camp Logan Activities Committee, offering civics and morality instruction.
And then there was a committee created by a woman named Mary L. Jones, who had her sights set on something a little more lasting — an organization dedicated to the moral and spiritual growth of young girls. Jones wasn't just dreamin', either.
During World War I, she worked alongside a national representative from the Young Women's Christian Association, and together they opened a recreation center in 1917. Right there in the Masonic building at 806 Clay. Now, that center did its work quietly through the war years.
And when the war ended, it reached up and applied to Houston's YWCA for branch status. Got it in 1920. The Blue Triangle Branch, YWCA, was official — and it came out swinging with athletic programs, musical programs, educational programs for girls.
In 1921, it opened a boarding house, and that boarding house grew all through the decade like something planted in good soil. Then came the Great Depression, and the Blue Triangle felt it the way everybody did. The residence had to close.
But here's the thing about this organization — when the hard times hit, it didn't shrink into itself. Services expanded. Hundreds of women and girls were helped to find work.
Hundreds. That number deserves a pause. By the 1940s, the Blue Triangle YWCA had turned its eyes toward the future.
Plans were laid for a brand new building. A group of women donated the very site you're standing near. And in 1950, construction began on a building designed by two noted Houston architects — Hiram A.
Salisbury and Birdsall P. Briscoe. Those two chose a Transitional style for the design, carrying the late Art Moderne sensibility while also reaching toward more contemporary elements.
What they built features a semi-circular entry portico, casement windows, raised brick banding, and a fret pattern that was something of a signature for Briscoe himself. There's craft in this building. Intention.
Over the years, the Blue Triangle wasn't just a building — it was woven into the lives of the community's women and girls. So deeply, in fact, that women like Lilla B. Love and Elizabeth E.
Stevens willed their property to the organization. Think about that. They wrote it into their final wishes.
That's not casual support — that's devotion. The Blue Triangle ended its YWCA affiliation in 1998. But the story didn't end there.
A community group restored it, reopened it, and the center now offers programs for youth and adults and provides space for other groups to carry on their own work. From Mary L. Jones and a wartime recreation room on Clay Street, to a landmark building still serving Houston more than a century later — some seeds, when planted with enough conviction, just refuse to stop growing.
What the marker says
Blue Triangle Branch, Y. W. C. A. Building In the early 20th century, Houston's African American community wanted to provide recreational facilities for its youth and for African American troops stationed at Camp Logan. Various groups formed, including two interested in the welfare of young girls. The Camp Logan Activities Committee offered civics and morality instruction, and a committee created by Mary L. Jones aimed to form an organization dedicated to girls' moral and spiritual growth. During World War I, a national representative from the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) worked with Jones to open a recreation center in 1917 in the Masonic building at 806 Clay. Following the war, the center applied to Houston's YWCA for branch status, which was given in 1920. The Blue Triangle Branch, YWCA, offered athletic, musical and educational programs for girls. In 1921, it opened a boarding house, which grew throughout the decade. During the Great Depression, the center closed the residence, but services expanded, helping hundreds of women and girls find work. In the 1940s, the Blue Triangle YWCA began plans to build a new center. A group of women donated this site, and construction began in 1950 on the building designed by noted Houston architects Hiram A. Salisbury and Birdsall P. Briscoe. The architects chose a Transitional style, showing late Art Moderne as well as more contemporary elements. The building exhibits a semi-circular entry portico, casement windows and raised brick banding, with a fret pattern used frequently by Briscoe. The Blue Triangle YWCA was an important part of the lives of the community's women and girls. Several women, including Lilla B. Love and Elizabeth E. Stevens, willed property to the organization in continued support of its mission. The Blue Triangle ended its YWCA affiliation in 1998. Restored and reopened by a community group, the new center offers youth and adult programs, and provides space for other groups. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002