| The Mexican YMCA in Miami, Arizona |
In 1910, the Miami Copper Company formed an alliance with the YMCA
to provide recreational and social activities for its employees in its one-
story frame building on Miami Hill, near the company’s concentrator
facility. Inside, company personnel played games such as checkers,
chess and billiards and read newspapers and magazines. A large
handball court outside provided additional recreational activity for the
men. In 1915, the state territorial YMCA secretary, D.W. Pollard, made
an agreement with company officials to expand the Y’s facilities, and
strengthen its presence within the community. The Miami Copper
Company agreed to build a new and modern YMCA building closer to
the business section of town. Dedicated on May 10, 1917, the
imposing three-story YMCA building became a community and mining
company showpiece on the corner of Sullivan Street and Miami Avenue.
The building is still there on that same corner.
to provide recreational and social activities for its employees in its one-
story frame building on Miami Hill, near the company’s concentrator
facility. Inside, company personnel played games such as checkers,
chess and billiards and read newspapers and magazines. A large
handball court outside provided additional recreational activity for the
men. In 1915, the state territorial YMCA secretary, D.W. Pollard, made
an agreement with company officials to expand the Y’s facilities, and
strengthen its presence within the community. The Miami Copper
Company agreed to build a new and modern YMCA building closer to
the business section of town. Dedicated on May 10, 1917, the
imposing three-story YMCA building became a community and mining
company showpiece on the corner of Sullivan Street and Miami Avenue.
The building is still there on that same corner.
The YMCA building had a steam-heated indoor tiled swimming pool, a gymnasium with a stage, a two-lane bowling
alley and twenty-three dormitory rooms with showers for single Anglo men: engineers, chemists, accountants, and
other specialists and employees of the Miami Copper Company. A banquet room, conference room, billiard and pool
tables framed the spacious lobby, along with a library, reading room, and a well-furnished kitchen. In 1911, at least
eight-hundred Anglo YMCA members and their families had access to all “Y” facilities. YMCA boys’ clubs formed and
basketball teams and leagues competed against each other in afternoon games after school. The YMCA doubled as
a community center and a recreational facility for the Anglos in Miami.
In the midst of all this wholesome activity, the dark side of the Miami YMCA emerged. Segregation and an unwritten
“No Mexicans Allowed” policy marred the beauty of the new YMCA building. The practice of segregation kept
Mexicanos from bowling and playing card games or billiards inside the “Y.” Segregation kept them at a distance and
prevented them from relaxing in the reading room and lobby after working a day shift at the mine. It also kept
Mexicano youths from using the gymnasium after school. As for using the swimming pool, Mexican boys swam once
a week under strict supervision: on the day before, an official cleaned and drained the pool. Despite the
segregation policy, YMCA leaders believed it to be in their best Christian interest to at least show a concern for the
spiritual welfare of the Mexicanos and wanted to fulfill their godly duty by proselytizing righteousness and clean
living. In order to forge Christian Americanization efforts among them, YMCA leaders opened the “Mexican Y” and
promoted physical activities and music.
The “Mexican Y”, a small and unused one-room wood-frame storage building owned by the Miami Copper Company
opened in May, 1919. Several make-shift wooden tables and chairs stored inside the building served as the
furniture, with a second-hand piano and a used blackboard inside the little building. There was a wood stove to
heat the building in the winter, a stark contrast to the new, modern state-of-the-art YMCA building just a few feet
away. In 1925, YMCA officials selected Alejandro Trujillo, my father’s uncle, to serve as the Director of the “Mexican
Y.” Trujillo was a lay pastor and Sunday school teacher at the El Divino Salvador (The Divine Savior), the Mexican
Presbyterian church in Miami. He also labored for the Miami Copper Company. Trujillo and his cousin, Mauricio
Trujillo, formed an adult musicians’ group, who called themselves the “Mexicanos Y Orchestra.” The “Mexican Y”
remained segregated until 1947, twenty-eight years after it opened in 1919.
alley and twenty-three dormitory rooms with showers for single Anglo men: engineers, chemists, accountants, and
other specialists and employees of the Miami Copper Company. A banquet room, conference room, billiard and pool
tables framed the spacious lobby, along with a library, reading room, and a well-furnished kitchen. In 1911, at least
eight-hundred Anglo YMCA members and their families had access to all “Y” facilities. YMCA boys’ clubs formed and
basketball teams and leagues competed against each other in afternoon games after school. The YMCA doubled as
a community center and a recreational facility for the Anglos in Miami.
In the midst of all this wholesome activity, the dark side of the Miami YMCA emerged. Segregation and an unwritten
“No Mexicans Allowed” policy marred the beauty of the new YMCA building. The practice of segregation kept
Mexicanos from bowling and playing card games or billiards inside the “Y.” Segregation kept them at a distance and
prevented them from relaxing in the reading room and lobby after working a day shift at the mine. It also kept
Mexicano youths from using the gymnasium after school. As for using the swimming pool, Mexican boys swam once
a week under strict supervision: on the day before, an official cleaned and drained the pool. Despite the
segregation policy, YMCA leaders believed it to be in their best Christian interest to at least show a concern for the
spiritual welfare of the Mexicanos and wanted to fulfill their godly duty by proselytizing righteousness and clean
living. In order to forge Christian Americanization efforts among them, YMCA leaders opened the “Mexican Y” and
promoted physical activities and music.
The “Mexican Y”, a small and unused one-room wood-frame storage building owned by the Miami Copper Company
opened in May, 1919. Several make-shift wooden tables and chairs stored inside the building served as the
furniture, with a second-hand piano and a used blackboard inside the little building. There was a wood stove to
heat the building in the winter, a stark contrast to the new, modern state-of-the-art YMCA building just a few feet
away. In 1925, YMCA officials selected Alejandro Trujillo, my father’s uncle, to serve as the Director of the “Mexican
Y.” Trujillo was a lay pastor and Sunday school teacher at the El Divino Salvador (The Divine Savior), the Mexican
Presbyterian church in Miami. He also labored for the Miami Copper Company. Trujillo and his cousin, Mauricio
Trujillo, formed an adult musicians’ group, who called themselves the “Mexicanos Y Orchestra.” The “Mexican Y”
remained segregated until 1947, twenty-eight years after it opened in 1919.
Copyright © 2006 by Christine Marin |
| BARRIOZONA |
| Bilingual Community Expression Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues |
