The YWCA Hut

Established in the fall of 1909, the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) was East Carolina’s first student organization. Pattie Simmons Dowell, the first student to enroll at ECTTS, led in founding the group and served as its first president. From the start, the YWCA received the wholehearted support of President Robert H. Wright, an active member of Jarvis Memorial Methodist Church. Founded to promote Christian fellowship and service among East Carolina students, the YWCA sponsored numerous activities and fund raisers for various causes. It also organized vesper services on Friday and Sunday evenings, “morning watch” services on week days, and Christmas programs and Easter pageants.

In 1922, the ECTC Board of Trustees voted to permit the YWCA to run a “store” selling fruit and groceries in the basement of the Administration Building (Old Austin). Profits led to construction of a humble “hut in the woods” on the southwest fringe of campus. Known as the “Y-Hut,” the rustic bungalow provided an austere retreat for students and faculty, one safely removed from Fifth Street’s vehicular distractions. The Y-Hut was furnished with wicker chairs, scattered rugs, an upright piano, and a large fireplace. Upon completion, it received front-page coverage in the first issue of the student newspaper, the Teco Echo, December 19, 1925.

The first known picture of the hut appeared in the 1926 Tecoan with the verse-caption, “The forest is my loyal friend: Like God it useth me.” This followed a picture of the campus woods with the caption, “The groves were God’s first temples.” After praising the YWCA for deepening student appreciation for higher things and quickening in them the sources of love and fellowship among students, a 1926 Tecoan article asked, “Why would not every girl like to be a member of the Y.W.C.A.?” It added that “To go to the hut at leisure moments during the day is more than a pleasure to the students. This hut, which has been a dream for the last few years, has been completed, and many enjoyable gatherings have been held there.”

The Y-Hut served as a campus space apart for innovative thinking on social as well as spiritual issues. The 1937 Tecoan mentions, for example, that the YWCA brought speakers to campus, including a deputation team from Shaw University, the oldest private African-American institution of higher education in the south. The 1939 Tecoan relates that the YWCA had recently become part of “the Interracial Group of Y.W. and Y.M.C.A.’s of our state.” In 1942, members attended an interracial conference in Durham. In 1943, it hosted a “Negro Marine Choir” at vespers, and a visit by an “African missionary.” The same year, it held a drive for the World Student Services Fund (WSSF), donating the proceeds to “help students of all races all over the world, including Americans.” The YWCA was also instrumental in introducing the first foreign student to the ECTC campus. Despite the still prevalent Jim Crow culture on campus and the accompanying illusions of white supremacy, the YWCA was at the forefront in pioneering a new vision of racial harmony for East Carolina.

In 1952, the original Y-Hut was razed to clear ground for construction of the new J. Y. Joyner Library. The following year, a new Y-Hut was completed, similar in appearance to the first. However, increasing diversification in student life on campus led to a decline in membership. Newer religious organizations such as the Baptist Student Union, the Canterbury Club, the Free Will Baptist Fellowship, the King Youth Club, the Lutheran Student Association, the Newman Club, the Westminister Fellowship, the Wesley Foundation, the Christian Youth Fellowship, the Hebrew Youth Fellowship, and the Inter-Religious Council increasingly addressed the spiritual dimension of student life. Several of these groups met, incidentally, in the Y-Hut. Consequently, in 1963, the YWCA was disbanded. The Y-Hut subsequently came to be used as the first home of the Ledonia S. Wright Cultural Center.

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Sources

• “Brief History of Y.W.C.A. Is Portrayed.” Teco Echo. May 30, 1934. Vol. 10, no. 12. P. 6.
• Ferrell, Henry C., Jr. No Time for Ivy: East Carolina University, 1907-2007. Greenville, N.C.: East Carolina University, 2006.
• “Records of the Young Women's Christian Association.” University Archives # UA45-01. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/UA45-01.
• “Senior Normal Class Prophecy.” Tecoan . 1931. Greenville, N.C.: East Carolina University, 1931. Pp. 151.
• Mozingo, Hortense. “The Y.W.C.A. on Campus.” Tecoan . 1926. Greenville, N.C.: East Carolina University, 1931. Pp. 181.
• “Student Spotlight.” Teco Echo. January 29, 1943 Vol. 18, no. 7. P. 2.
• “Training School Y.W.C.A. Wide-awake Organization.” Greenville News. October 3, 1921. P. 1.
• “Y.W.C.A.” Tecoan . 1937. Greenville, N.C.: East Carolina University, 1937. Pp. 138-139.
• “Y.W.C.A.” Tecoan . 1939. Greenville, N.C.: East Carolina University, 1939. Pp. 122-123.
• “Y.W.C.A.” Tecoan . 1943. Greenville, N.C.: East Carolina University, 1943. Pp. 110-111.
• “Y.W.C.A. Hut Now Ready.” Teco Echo. December 19, 1925. Vol. 1, no. 1. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37803.

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