Our History
The idea of building a community center in Mt. Sterling originated within the Tracy Family, and especially found footing once Dorothy Tracy pledged to support the endeavor. The family wanted to make Mt. Sterling a better place to live. As their hometown, Mt. Sterling has a special place in their hearts and therefore, they wanted to make it a more attractive place for families to live and relocate into the community. It was also important to the family to see Mt. Sterling grow for the long-term future of Dot Foods in Mt. Sterling. Additionally, the health and wellbeing statistics of Brown County, at the time, were not positive. A community center was a natural place to invest in the community as it appealed to all residents no matter their age.
The inaugural planning committee included Jim Tracy, John Tracy, Mike Boylen, Roger Wilson, Byron Johnson and Philip Krupps. These community leaders were the first directors of the Board that managed the new Community Center. This group was responsible for selling the concept of a community center to the community, as they needed a strong show of interest before committing to building a $3 million dollar community center.
The biggest challenge the group encountered was enlightening the Community on what the Center and the YMCA are and the impact that they would have on the Community. Understanding that the vast majority of Brown County residents at the time had never seen, let alone visited or used a YMCA.
The group had to determine if the community would support a community center in Mt. Sterling. The Center would only be successful in the long run if the community supported the Center with memberships and donations. The group determined that the best way to gauge this is through presell of memberships. Their goal was to presell 250 memberships and the team sold over 400.
Their establishment plan had two beneficial results. The first being is that it gave people who had YMCA experience a chance to share and educate. The second was that by Dorothy’s commitment to build if we secured the memberships, the Community then had to make a commitment of its own, and community members had this immediate vesting and ownership.
The next challenge was to design a facility that would provide multiple functions that attracted all ages in the community. This was accomplished by visiting multiple YMCAs throughout the Midwest to see what was working for them. The founders also wanted to design a facility in a manner that could keep down the cost to run the facility. The design and detail planning of the community center was done with great help from Todd Spalding, the Executive Director of the Quincy Family YMCA. His experience was invaluable in design of this facility. Dot’s construction team managed the construction of the facility.
The final challenge was to hire a management team to run the facility, which fortunately the group was able to do by hiring a capable, successful team right from the start of the Community Center.
Ground was broken in April of 2003 on the $3 million, 30,000 square foot facility. While the original projected opening date was January 1st, 2004, the Mt. Sterling Community Center YMCA opened its doors on January 26th, 2004. Within the first week of opening, the Y held two programs, Senior Adult Night and Teen Night.
Program offerings were quickly expanded to meet member needs. In February 2004, volleyball leagues began and an aerobics (now known as group exercise) schedule was established. The first schedule featured seven different class offerings.
In March 2004, the YMCA announced its plans to have its’ first summer camp program. The program ran for eight weeks and served children ages 8 – 12 years old.
The YMCA held its very first fundraising event on May 9th, 2004. The walk-a-thon raised money to subsidize program and membership scholarships for those on a limited income.
On April 17th, 2004, a dedication ceremony was held to formally introduce the facility and recognize the contributions and support of the community, Tracy family and Dot Foods.
The first youth basketball league was held in the spring of 2004, with over 180 kids participating. Our first after school program began in the fall 2004. The “after school Fun Club” served school aged children by providing care after school every day school was in session. The Fun Club was open to children in grades 1st through 6th and featured snack time, quiet homework time and recreational activities in either the gym, outside or game room.
Our first yoga class was held on December 28th, 2004 and kicked off our free yoga program, which is still offered to members today.
The Mt. Sterling Community Center YMCA celebrated its’ first anniversary in the early spring of 2005. At that time, membership stood at 2,300 members, which was more than the population of Mt. Sterling, at the time.