On June 9, 1890, ground was broken for a building for the YMCA. On November 14, 1890, the cornerstone was laid, with James D. Hoskins, then a student at the university and president of the YMCA, presiding. The building funds included $8,000 raised by students and designation by the trustees of an additional $6,000 ($3,000 for the building and $3,000 for equipment). Total cost of the facility was $18,000. This was the first YMCA Student Association building in the South and the second in the United States. The building was completed in 1891.
This facility, located on the approximate site of the 1963–64 addition to Hesler Biology Building, served as the institution’s gymnasium until a gymnasium building was built in 1924 and was completely relieved of athletic events when the Alumni Memorial Gymnasium was completed in 1932. The YMCA Building contained a gymnasium, reading room, game rooms, and dormitory rooms, and later, a sandwich shop and grill. In 1937 space on the first floor of the building was extensively renovated to provide office space for student newspaper and yearbook staffs, as well as for records of the Student-Faculty Organization Board. The building was destroyed by fire on February 8, 1943. The materials, records, and equipment of the student newspaper (Orange and White), yearbook (Volunteer), and the records of the Student Faculty Organization Board were saved.