YWCA, Phillis Wheatley Branch

The YWCA, Phillis Wheatley Branch in St. Louis, Missouri, is a historic building established in 1927 and recognized on the National Register of Historic Places since 1984. Founded in 1911 and named after the first African-American poet, Phillis Wheatley, it was one of the earliest YWCAs for African-Americans. The branch served as a cultural hub in the Mill Creek Valley, hosting notable figures such as the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1916 and W.E.B. Du Bois in 1922. Renowned personalities like Maya Angelou and Mary McLeod Bethune also visited the YWCA, which was originally built for the St. Louis Women's Christian Association, established in 1868, before being sold to the YWCA in 1941.