History of the YWCA of Regina
1914 - 1930
World War I brought a new awareness of sharpening conflicts and tensions in the world at large. In mid August 1914 the Legion of Frontiersmen left for the war, to be followed shortly afterward by the 26th Saskatchewan Rifles and Regina's Second contingent. The Regina Association settled down to "only the most practical work" - work with the families of soldiers and the Canadian Red Cross.
The Board was criticized in the community for employing foreign girls but nothing would keep them from pursuing the YWCA policy of "no discrimination". Interest in public affairs increased; concern was expressed over immigration laws and the low wages of girls in stores and laundries. A survey was made of the wages of employed girls which revealed salaries in stores of $6 - $20 a week, for stenographers of $60 - $100 a month.
There was an upsurge of interest during this period in the needs of teen age girls. A great deal of organizing was being done in schools, Sunday Schools, in Girl Guides and Camp Fire Girls' work. A Girls' Work Secretary was hired. Her work aimed at meeting the girls' (1) intellectual needs (2) physical needs, (3) religious needs, (4) and training for practical experience. Simpson's offered to pay half the fee for employees of three months' standing.
The Association co-operated in giving equipment and the leadership of the Girls' Work Secretary to the newly organized teen age movement, the C.G.I.T., and sponsored the first girls' camp at Lumsden. Later, in 1919, the churches were to take over entirely the program of the C.G.I.T.
Summerholme, the cottage near Ft. Qu'Appelle where young women might vacation, which was a dream of the Board of Directors, became a reality in 1917. By July, the cottage was completed and ready for the girls for the summer and 48 girls had registered. For the summers thereafter, until the sale of Summerholme in 1937, the cottage at B-Say-Tah Point was kept open for tired city dwellers and groups of C.G.I.T. girls.
During those war years, women were taking the place of men in jobs which paid much more than the YWCA could pay. Often the people whom the YWCA could find to carry on its maintenance work had no idea of schedules. Many times the Association was without a janitor. There are stories on record of one janitor who had to be wakened on cold mornings so that fire could be made in the range to prepare breakfast.
In 1918, the flu epidemic struck. A resident in the house at that time wrote thus, "It really was almost beyond words. The people who lived out on the prairies could not get a doctor from the city for days. I am sure that many a person died before help could come. We had our troubles in the house too. All the maids were ill at one time or other. I remember one Sunday afternoon Miss Morton, the General, and I, sat in the basement and peeled potatoes by hand as she said that at least we could serve a boiled potato. Many of our guests were ill, too."
The year 1919 brought post war problems. Inflation had reared its ugly head. The cost of clothing was out of all proportion to salaries; butter went to $0.80 a pound and higher. In the midst of post war dislocation, girls came from prairie farms and villages, from the British Isles and Continent in search of employment. Jobs were found through the YWCA for many of them; federal and provincial governments were approached in an attempt to find adequate housing.
For the lonely, the YWCA came to be the place to meet. There were Sunday afternoon classes on the problems of reconstruction, vespers each evening, and firesides on Sundays after church for young men and women, held alternately in the YMCA and the YWCA.
Gymnastics became increasingly popular, the girls attired in great yardage of serge bloomers, long black stockings and white middies with blue ties. The 20's ushered in the flapper era, economic recessions and peaks. A new interest in swimming was sparked. With the blessing of the Local Council of Women, the girls initiated a fund-raising campaign, and after 5 years, the pool was opened April 6, 1925.
To dance or not to dance? That question became once more an issue. This time permission for holding dances was to be given at the discretion of the General Secretary but it was stipulated that two Board members and the General Secretary must chaperon.
The demand for overnight accommodation increased by leaps and bounds. In 1926 the Metropolitan Parsonage at 1951 Smith Street was purchased for $8,000.00 and used as an annex to the main building. In no time consideration had to be given to enlarging either the YWCA or the annex but the drastic curtailment of the '30's made it necessary to close the Annex instead.