Honoring the Legacy of Montclair's Historic YWCA

Montclair History Center’s (MHC) Crane House and Historic YWCA Museum is one of 32 sites to be named a New Jersey Black Heritage Site by the New Jersey Historical Commission (NJHC) in its inaugural round of markers.

With locations across the state, the Black Heritage Trail was signed into law by Governor Murphy in 2022, “to highlight Black heritage sites throughout the state with historical markers and a trail-like path that connects the stories of Black life and resiliency,” according to Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way.”

The historic Montclair YWCA was selected for its important role in the history of Montclair’s African American community and its larger historical significance.

In the first half of the 20th century, YWCAs were racially segregated. The Montclair YWCA for African American women and girls was founded in 1912 by Alice Hooe Foster (the first African American woman to graduate from Montclair High School). From 1920 to 1965, the Crane House housed the YWCA, which was a haven for the young women who lived there, many who arrived from the south during the Great Migration. For more than 4 decades, Montclair’s Historic YWCA at the Crane House played a significant role in the local African American community. It was remarkable in that it was the only one in America not affiliated with a white YWCA. 

"We are thrilled to be nominated and part of the newly formed New Jersey Black Heritage Trail honoring the legacy of the African American women of the YWCA in Montclair,” said Angelica Diggs, Executive Director of the Montclair History Center.

“The women of the YWCA helped to shape Montclair as they worked together to create change in their community and for themselves. The Montclair YWCA reflects the story of a town and a nation experiencing the changes of the Great Migration, integration and the Civil Rights Movement,” Diggs added.

Historically, YWCAs provided a place of safety and refuge for women, and have empowered women to take pride in their heritage, seek out and realize educational opportunities and become leaders in their communities.

The Crane House and Historic YWCA will get a historical marker, telling the story of the Historic YWCA, along with a QR code that visitors can scan for more information, including about special events and programming at the site. To help visitors navigate the New Jersey Black Heritage Trail, the NJHC is working closely with the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism. The historic markers will be coordinated with the NJHC and are anticipated to be installed by 2025.

“Our goal is to showcase the many contributions of Black Americans over more than 300 years of New Jersey history,” said Sara Cureton, Executive Director of the NJHC. “The creation and maintenance of this Trail will be an ongoing process, but I am thrilled to have the first sites selected and proud of the work of the New Jersey Black Heritage Trail team.”

Today the stories of the women of Montclair’s YWCA are told in the Crane House and Historic YWCA of the Montclair History Center, as well as in a documentary produced by the Montclair History Center in 2014 titled "A Place to Become: Montclair through the Eyes of the Glenridge Avenue YWCA Women (1920-1965).”

For the full list of first round selected Heritage Trail sites, visit https://nj.gov/state/historical/assets/pdf/african-american/2024-black-heritage-trail-approved-nominations.pdf.