A new YMCA opened Jan. 11 as part of the continuing redevelopment of the Renaissance Heights community in southeast Fort Worth.
The William McDonald YMCA in at 2701 Moresby St., Fort Worth.
Renaissance Heights is a 200-acre area in southeast Fort Worth near the intersection of Berry Street and U.S, 287.
To date, more than $125 million has been invested in the site, including 330,000 square feet of retail space, providing neighborhood residents close proximity to a grocery store and other retail and commercial entities.
Kevin Washington, head of National YMCA, came from Chicago to speak at the grand opening of the center, which provides access to strength and cardio equipment, free weights, a state-of-the-art basketball gym, group exercise classes, discounted rates for youth sports, youth camps, afterschool child care, youth enrichment and leadership programs, health prevention programs and other programs.
The area already is home to Uplift Education, ACH Child and Family Services, Columbia Residential and a Cook Children’s Health Care System clinic.
North Texas Area Community Health Centers Inc. and Texas Wesleyan University are close by, and UNT Health Science Center is operating a mobile clinic in the neighborhood.
The YMCA has 36,500 square feet on the inside. The lead architect is Joe Orloff with Huitt Zollars.
William M. “Gooseneck Bill” McDonald (1866-1950) was an attorney, banker and politician in Fort Worth and Texas. McDonald to Fort Worth in 1906 where he opened the Fraternal Bank and Trust Company in 1912. As a successful businessman, William M. McDonald became Texas’s first black millionaire and one of the richest men in the South during his life. He was a civic leader, philanthropic in his efforts and worked hard to give back to the Fort Worth community. He built the Jim Hotel, named after his second wife, Jimmie, that was near the Fort Worth Press building, according to Reby Cary’s book, The Cinderella Kid. As a hotel in the then-segregated South, McDonald’s hotel hosted some of the top black entertainers of the day, from Fats Waller to Louis Armstrong to Count Basie to T-Bone Walker. The jam sessions there were legendary.
