ABOUT THE CLARK MEMORIAL YMCA
The Wendell P. Clark Memorial YMCA is a nonprofit community service organization made possible because of charitable donations, member support, and dedicated employees and volunteers. We are devoted to the education, physical health, mental well-being, and the moral development of children, families, and their community. We seek to be a welcoming center serving individuals of any age, race, religion, heritage, economic circumstance, or physical ability. We strive to incorporate the core values of honesty, caring, respect, and responsibility into everything we do.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Wendell Phillips Clark, born in 1842, possessed a love for community and a deep sense of commitment to the future welfare of Winchendon, by desiring to build a recreational facility for it’s residents. Accordingly, Wendell P. Clark provided for such a facility for the Town of Winchendon in his last will and testament. Through this, he directed the trustees of his estate “to buy land and erect a building in Winchendon as a community house for the people of the town, and to create a fund for its support. The building is to be known as the ‘Wendell P. Clark Memorial.’” He also stated that they (the trustees) may “deem it advisable” to establish a branch of the YMCA in town instead of a community house. In anticipation of these directives the lot at the corner of Central and Summer Streets was purchased from the town for $1 in 1921. The Boys’ Club building, which has served the Town of Winchendon’s youth and young adults for so many years, was razed in 1953 to make room for the construction of the Wendell P. Clark Memorial. Construction of the building began on March 12, 1953, and the formal dedication of the Clark Memorial took place on September 16, 1954 with an estimated 1200 people in attendance. The generosity and civic pride of Wendell P. Clark will be shared with all the residents of Winchendon and surrounding towns for generations to come. Such a sense of community should not soon be forgotten.
