A sepia toned postcard reproduction of a Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum photograph. A view of the Walter Douglas house in 1903. The photograph was taken by W. Humphries. The back caption at the top left reads: “DOUGLAS HOUSE – 1903 Presented by Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum. This was the home of a mining company superintendent. This home is also referred to as the Williams-Douglas house because prior to Walter Douglas becoming the PD Superintendent, the Williams family lived there. The photograph is part of the Douglas Collection and the postcard is part of the Burl Schweikart collection.

The first Young Women’s Christian Association in Bisbee was housed in the former Williams-Douglas house known locally as the Manager’s house. Lewis Douglas and Ben Williams made additions to the home in the earlier years before James Douglas donated it to the community. It functioned as the first YWCA building for eight years from 1908 to 1916. Band concerts were held in the front yard and pair of Saguaro cactus flanked the stairs that led up the terraced steps to the building. The second YWCA building was built in 1916, it was originally designed three floors and a fourth floor was added in a year later. Along with the YMCA, the YWCA was nicknamed “the Welfare Factories” of Bisbee. Unmarried young women who came to Bisbee could rely on the YWCA for boarding and meals. They offered classes in home economics such as embroidery and sewing. The YWCA had a cafeteria opened to the public for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For their Girl Reserves, they operated a summer camp in the Huachuca mountains. In the early 1920s the YWCA would often borrow the YMCA The YWCA building is now utilized by Community Y. The Young Women’s Christian Organization or YWCA was founded in London, England in 1855 by Mary Jane Kinnaird and was later merged with Emma Roberts’ Prayer Union in 1877. Like the Young Men’s Christian Organization, the YWCA formed to combat the social problems in urban areas due to industrialization. The organization became global in 1894 with the formation of the World YWCA founded by Great Britain, Norway, Sweden and the United States. The YWCA continues its working, helping with women’s rights, poverty eradication, spreading literacy and aiding refugees among their causes. They maintain members in a hundred countries and maintain an office in Geneva, Switzerland.

2018.23.10