It’s a moment to celebrate: the Emilson YMCA in Hanover opened 25 years ago this month.
Of course, it didn’t just “open.” Projects like the conversion of the Mill Pond Tennis Club into a model family YMCA come with months, even years of work completed by people with vision, compassion and love for their community.
By the mid-1980s, the South Shore Y included the 1955 Quincy Y facility, the 1928 Camp Burgess and the 1960 Camp Hayward. In 1981, the Quincy Y (as the South Shore YMCA was formerly known) had merged with the Weymouth Y, but that move came without any land or building transfers. The closing of the Weymouth Y did come with funds, money that could only be used for the construction of a new Y. Therefore, a growing goal of the Board during those days was to find a location in the “southern” end of its service area to do just that.
Gordon Clark, a third-generation Y Board member, led the charge to find new land in the region suitable for a Y. According to his son, Alex, a board member, “It was his personal mission at that time. He was retired, and he was going to find a location, land, or whatever it would be to have this South Shore branch. He spent hours at town halls looking at plot plans. He’d say, ‘Hey, I think I found something here,’ we’d go look at it, and it wasn’t quite right.”
Years of work went into the process. “I remember we were in a conference room, there was myself, Brian Tedeschi, Ralph Yohe, my dad wasn’t even there at the time,” Alex said. The Y had acquired land in Rockland that in the end did not seem to be the right fit, for various reasons. The team discussed last-minute ideas before sinking funds into the property, hoping for a miracle solution.
A champion emerged in that dark hour. Brian Tedeschi, a developer and a member of the Board, considered the properties his family owned. Clark remembered that moment. “Brian said, ‘My family owns the Mill Pond Tennis Club.’” Twenty-five acres on the Route 3 South/Route 53 corridor, behind the Hanover Mall, came to the forefront.
“We got up, we got in the car and we drove down to what was then Mill Pond,” said Alex. “It was a no-brainer, once we saw the property, once we saw the possibilities there.”
“I suggested this might be a more appropriate location,” Tedeschi said, “and I went to members of the family to make my case.”
The property conversion came in two stages. The Board voted to acquire the Tedeschi-owned land adjacent to the tennis club (which at the time was privately owned) in March 1995 for use as a summer camp, and a future Y. In July, it opened the Gordon Clark Aquatics Center onsite. Ultimately, the need for more land became obvious. Led by the findings of a professional feasibility study, a committee – Alex Clark, John Sheskey, Brian Tedeschi, Terry Tedeschi, Herb Emilson and the newest board member, elected that month, Dan DeMarco of Campanelli Management Associates Corporation – recommended the purchase of the Mill Pond Tennis Club itself.
“It was exactly what we needed,” said DeMarco. “It was a great location, right off the highway. It made for a perfect expansion.”
Overwhelmingly, local residents wanted access to swimming pools, indoor and outdoor. They wanted competitive sports options for their children, including swim teams, tennis teams and more. They believed the Y should become a good partner to existing agencies in the region, that a new Y should mirror the Quincy Y and should be “properly staffed with really, really high-quality, well-trained people.” By March of 1998, an agreement was reached with the Club. In an ambitious move, the Board planned to open the new Y – the Hanover Y? the North River Y? – in the fall.
“It was a pretty Spartan-like conversion,” remembered Mark Dickinson, a member of the Board. The mechanical systems in the building were in generally poor repair. The septic system needed review. In July, a “Facilities Committee” formed to tackle the issues. The Y applied for its building permit on July 13 to begin $800,000 in renovations that included glass separators, new lighting and more. A quick capital campaign came together under the guidance of Ralph Yohe, President of the Y (the equivalent of today’s CEO), with lead gifts from Herb Emilson and Alex Clark.
Past Board Chair Morrie Hibbard stepped forward to embark on an introductory tour, meeting with 26 local nonprofit organizations in the months leading up to the opening. Hibbard, Yohe and Natalie Norton Sheard, who would be the site’s first Executive Director, met with the Hanover Chamber of Commerce, receiving an embracing welcome to the community.
Final permits came through in late October and on November 1, 1998, the South Shore YMCA at Mill Pond – the finally chosen name – opened. “We took an open facility and made it into a kind of Spartan YMCA,” said Dickinson. “Boy, we served a lot of people. It needed an addition almost immediately.” Rapidly, in the ensuing few years, it went through two.
Looking back, we all – South Shore YMCA members, staff, and volunteers – have many people to thank for the Emilson YMCA campus we have today. Some Board members are still serving, others have retired. Many donors who gave to help create the Emilson Y still give today. But it was that remarkable gathering of leaders and visionaries, from some of the South Shore’s most prominent families, who negotiated nearly two decades of hurdles to find the right place, build the right building and set the course for impacting tens of thousands of lives over the next quarter century, a mission the Y still carries forward.
On a grander, regional scale, the addition of this facility played a pivotal role in South Shore YMCA history, instantly doubling its impact. We are grateful for the amazing teamwork of volunteers who had the vision, expertise and commitment to serve the community and expand the South Shore YMCA a quarter of a century ago.
