Y. M. C. A. TO CELEBRATE
ITS 48TH BIRTHDAY.
WILL HOLD EXERCISES IN MANY
CHURCHES SUNDAY.
Organization Began as a Prayer Meet-
ing in London 54 Years Ago
Local Branch One of
First in the West.
The local organization of the Young Men's Christian Association will be 48 years old Sunday, and in commemoration of this even plans have been completed for meetings to be held in thirty-seven churches in Kansas City. Prominent workers in the association from various cities will make the addresses at the night services and a meeting for men will be held at the Willis Wood theater at 3:30 o'clock in the afternoon. At this meeting Henry M. Beardsley, president of the local association, will preside, and L. Wilbur Messer, general secretary of the Y. M. C. A., will make the principal address. A special male quartet will furnish music.
The Young Men's Christian Association was organized fifty-four years ago in London, England, and the movement spread into the United States the next years. Although started as a young men's prayer meeting, with the first meeting held in a small room, it has grown until a building is located in every city of any size in the world and work is being carried on even in heathen countries. Millions of men are banded together under one banner, and a member of the association in Kansas City is welcomed at any association in the world.
The Kansas City organization was one of the first to be started west of the Mississippi river. The local organization now has 1,500 members and has a campaign in progress whereby at least 400 more are to be secured.
