George Williams Memorial Room and Museum

The George Williams Memorial Room is a replica of the room where the Young Men's Christian Association was organized.

During the Industrial Revolution in England, George Williams, a young drapery clerk, recognized London as a large, overgrown town unable to meet the physical, social, intellectual and spiritual needs of its citizens. London was ripe for reform and Williams started in a small way to correct social maladjustments. He organized prayer groups at Hitchcock and Rogers, the drapery establishment where he worked. Williams participated in a city-wide labor reform movement and aided the organization of religious groups in businesses.

Williams had the idea of establishing a "Young Men's Society" which would introduce religious services into every large business establishment in London. On June 6, 1884, twelve young men met in the original George Williams Room for the purpose of forming a society, the object of which was to influence religious young men to spread the Redeemer's Kingdom amongst those whom they are surrounded.

The society, later named "The Young Men's Christian Association," developed into an international service institution. George Williams dedicated his life to the YMCA, and he retained a place of active leadership until his death. In 1894, Queen Victoria knighted Williams for "his humanistic contributions to the furtherance of world brotherhood."

Today, the YMCA world membership numbers 17.9 million (2002). Evidence of the high regard in which Williams was held was indicated at his death, when, on November 15, 1905, he was laid to rest in St. Paul's Cathedral, an honor reserved for England's heroes.

The George Williams Room, located in the Brandenburg Building on the Lake Geneva Campus of Aurora University, is a replica, symbolic of the ideals associated with the original room, and is hoped to be an inspiration to future generations.

In 1915, J.S. Hotton, business manager for George Williams College, then located in Hyde Park, IL, conceived the idea of replicating the original George Williams Room at the College. Hotton and Robert Weidensdall wrote to Howard Williams, son of George Williams, suggesting the idea.

Howard Williams thought the idea excellent, and sent complete architectural plans for the room. Construction was placed under the direction of Chicago architect, E. Stanford Hall.

The present memorial duplicates the unevenness of the floor and ceiling, the door and window sag, the varied paneling, the stencil design, and the pattern of the fireplace in the original room. Duplicates of the original furniture, the room furnishings, including the table, chairs, and fireplace grating were custom built in England with some difficulties.

Since WWI was still in progress when the furniture was completed, it was thought best to store this furniture for a time rather than hazard ocean shipment. Unfortunately, as Mr. Searle, of Searle and Searle, the London architects for the room wrote, "at 3:15 a.m. on the morning of December 6, 1917, the Hun air-raiders paid us one of their periodical visits, and were successful in dropping a bomb right on the warehouse where the furniture was stored, completely destroying same."

The furniture was not reduplicated and shipped to the college until after the Armistice of World War I. The majority of the pictures in the room, which were contributed by Howard Williams, were sent to the college at the same time.

The George Williams Memorial Room was originally dedicated on the hundredth anniversary of George Williams' birth, October 11, 1921. The dedication of the YMCA museum and the George Williams Room occurred on September 16, 1993.

The original room at 72 St. Paul's Churchyard in London was preserved as an international shrine until destroyed in 1944 by a World War II bombing.