Youngstown architects Barton E. Brooke and Harold R.
Dyer designed an impressive Tudor Gothic Style building
to house the West Federal Branch, which was built at a
cost of almost $200,000. The four-story building’s exterior
was finished in brick, with buff and grey stone foundation
blocks, pilasters, doorway arches, water tables, window
lintels and sills, and a slate roof with copper flashings and
ridge caps. The interior plan included social rooms, locker
rooms and a swimming pool on the first floor, a banquet
room and gymnasium on the second floor and dormitory
rooms that accommodated 60 people on the second, third
and fourth floors
The Youngstown YMCA held a cornerstone laying
ceremony for the new West Federal Branch on December
28, 1930. Charged with setting the stone were
Youngstown Councilman William S. Vaughan, the first
African American to serve the City in that capacity, and
Simeon S. Booker, Jr., the 12-year-old son of the branch’s
Executive Secretary. Construction continued through the
following spring and summer, leading up to the building’s
dedication on August 16, 1931. Numerous local
dignitaries, clergy, and board members and management
of the Youngstown YMCA prayed, sang hymns, and
welcomed addresses from Ohio Governor George White
and Senator Camilo Osias, Representative of the
Philippine Islands in the United States Congress.
