YMCA facilities District of Columbia 1926 - query

[Lindyboo]

I'm trying to find out what facilities were available at the YMCA in District of Columbia in 1926.  An individual in my records claimed to be living there that year, though I've also found him listed at an  expensive apartment in the city at the same time.  During this period he was involved in an acrimonious divorce and I speculate that he may have given the YMCA as his address to the court  to avoid his wife.  Did the Y have a facility for people to collect mail there?

I've looked online but can't find any mention of this service being offered, either then or now.

Thanks
Lindy

[shellyesq]

I don't know about DC specifically, but I know that the YMCA in general has traditionally had places for people who are down on their luck to stay.

The YMCA in Chicago's website says they've had that housing since 1931 - https://www.ymcachicago.org/programs/housing

[Erato]

Do you have a street address for the YMCA?  If so, you can look at that address in the 1920 or 1930 census to see if people were living there.

[Lindyboo]

Thank you for your replies.  I have found the individual on the censuses but it's this particular year, which is not covered by the census, when I hoped to trace his movements.  He was quite wealthy so had no need to be in the YMCA for financial reasons. 

[Erato]

I thought your question was why this man used a YMCA address.  One way to answer that question is to see whether anyone lived there in 1920 and 1930.  If there were people residing there before and after 1926, then it is reasonable to conclude that they offered similar services in 1926 and your man might have made use of them.  If the YMCA didn't provide residential services, then he must have been using the address for some other reason though
I can't see why he would have used the YMCA as a mail drop when he could have simply gotten a post office box.

[aghadowey]

There might be more than one YMCA in such a large city as Washington. It was quite usual for them to rent rooms (I know of one person at a slightly later date who did so when he changed jobs and had to move to another area).
You haven't mentioned the sources for this information but remember that the year of a directory is often much later than the details compiled. For example, a 1926 directory might have material compiled a year or two before and sometimes old material from the previous directory might appear in the new one even if the information was out of date.

[Lindyboo]

Thanks Aghadowey, the directory was 1926 and I couldn't find out when it was compiled.  It's a good point though, and I'll dig through my other stuff to see where he was in 1924/5 - it might tie in.

[aghadowey]

I have a hazy memory of getting the latest edition of the local city directory around Sept./Oct. at work in the 1970s.