In Fargo there were three attempts to organize the YMCA. It was finally established in 1886 during a meeting at Mrs. S.G. Roberts’ home. The YMCA boasted an impressive gymnasium and workout facilities, as well as the reading room furnished with a wide variety of materials. This new venue offered young men an opportunity similar to that offered by the fraternal lodges. It took the traditionally feminine moral values and gave them a masculine character that could be easily adopted.[1]
[1] Engelhardt, Carroll L, Gateway to the Northern Plains Railroads and the Birth of Fargo and Moorhead (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007), 179.
