DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story worth tellin' right. In 1928, the YMCA of Dallas looked out across a growing city and recognized something plain as day: the facilities weren't keeping up. In the African American neighborhood of North Dallas, the community didn't wait around for someone else to solve that problem.
Citizens there set a fundraising goal and then blew right past it — raising seventy-five thousand dollars in contributions, twenty-five thousand more than they'd aimed for. That alone ought to stop you for a moment. The goal was fifty thousand.
They raised seventy-five. Then the Rosenwald Fund — a national trust dedicated to building educational facilities, teacher housing, and YMCAs for African Americans across the southern United States — came in with an additional twenty-five thousand dollars. The building that rose from all that effort was named for Dr.
Reverend Jesse Edward Moorland, the second secretary of the Colored Men's Department of the YMCA in Washington, D.C. His name went on the door, and it meant something. Dallas architects Ralph Bryan and Walter Sharp designed the three-story red brick building in Italian Renaissance Revival Style.
Completed in 1930, it featured cast stone details and, carved over its two main entrances, a single word each — 'Boys' on one side, 'Men' on the other. Simple. Purposeful.
Through the nineteen-fifties, the Moorland YMCA was a social, cultural, and political center for Dallas' African American community. It offered recreation and education programs for youth and served as a gymnasium for local schools. And here's the part that lands with real weight: those facilities were one of the only places African American Dallasites could congregate outside of the church.
One of the only places. So when the civil rights movement took root in Dallas, Moorland YMCA was right there at the center of it — an integral meeting place for those doing that work. The building also kept sleeping rooms for African American visitors to the city, because when they came to Dallas, hotel options were severely limited.
This building answered a need on multiple fronts, every single day. By 1967, Moorland YMCA could no longer accommodate the demand of its members. It closed in 1970, after a new YMCA opened in Oak Cliff.
A new Moorland YMCA followed in 1973, on Ledbetter Street. And the original building on Flora Street? In 1999, it became the property of Dallas Black Dance Theatre.
Seventy-one years after a community raised more money than anyone asked for, that building is still standin' — still in use, still carryin' the name.
What the marker says
In 1928, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Dallas recognized a growing need for expanded facilities across the city. In the African American neighborhood of North Dallas, citizens raised $75,000 ($25,000 more than their goal) in contributions for a planned YMCA on Flora Street. The Rosenwald Fund, a national trust for construction of educational facilities, teacher housing, and YMCAs for African Americans in the southern United States, provided an additional $25,000. The Moorland YMCA was named for Dr. Rev. Jesse Edward Moorland, the second secretary of the Colored Men’s Department of the YMCA in Washington, D.C. Architects Ralph Bryan and Walter Sharp of Dallas designed the three-story red brick building in Italian Renaissance Revival Style. Completed in 1930, its design included cast stone features and the words “Boys” and “Men” inscribed over the two main entrances. Through the 1950s, the Moorland YMCA was a social, cultural, and political center for Dallas’ African American community. It offered recreation and education programs for youth and served as a gymnasium for local schools. The facilities were one of the only places African American Dallasites could congregate outside of the church. Moorland YMCA was an integral meeting place for those involved in the civil rights movement in Dallas. The building also provided sleeping rooms for African American visitors who found limited hotel facilities when visiting the city. By 1967, Moorland YMCA could no longer accommodate the demand of its members and it closed in 1970 after the construction of a new YMCA in Oak Cliff. A new Moorland YMCA opened on Ledbetter Street in 1973. In 1999, Dallas Black Dance Theatre became the owner of this historic property. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2011