Minneapolis YMCA Camping Services Records

Organized YMCA camping in the Twin Cities can be traced back to the Minneapolis YMCA’s first camp on the Baptist Assembly grounds in Mound, Minnesota in 1899. Between 1900 and 1907, the Minneapolis Y held a Boys Camp that moved from Lake Minnetonka (1900-1901) to Lake Francis (1902) to Clear Lake (1903-1905) and to Lake Calhoun (1906-1907). After a long search for a more permanent place, in 1907 the Minneapolis YMCA purchased 5 acres of land on Green Lake near Chisago City, Minnesota. In the summer of 1908, Camp Icaghowan opened on the Green Lake site and became the first boys camp conducted on property owned by the Minneapolis YMCA. Camping proved to be popular in the Minneapolis YMCA and more resident camps were established by the association: Camp Menogyn on West Bearskin Lake (1922), Camp Warren on Half Moon Lake (1927), and Camp Ihduhapi on Lake Independence (1929).

In St. Paul, organized YMCA camping began in 1909 when St. Paul YMCA Boys Work Department members helped raise money to purchase a site for a summer camp in Wisconsin on Lake St. Croix on the St. Croix river. Camp St. Croix was formally dedicated on June 9, 1910. In 1929 the St. Paul YMCA established a second camp, Camp Widjiwagan, as a more rugged northwoods camp for older campers on Burntside Lake near Ely, Minnesota.

In 1950, the Minneapolis YMCA camping program expanded with the establishment of Green Triangle—its first day camp. Prior to the establishment of Green Triangle, all of the YMCA camps operated by the St. Paul and Minneapolis YMCAs had been overnight camps for boys around 10 years old or older (with the exception of Camp Widjiwagan that had started offering a girls program in the 1940s). Day camping was developed for younger boys who were not old enough to sleep away from home, but who would still enjoy an outdoor camp-like experience. Day camping proved to be very popular and more day camps were quickly established to meet a growing need in the Minneapolis YMCA, Camp Manitou (1954), Camp Kici Yapi (1955), Camp Christmas Tree (1958), Camp Guy Robinson (1969), Camp Away-A-Day (1969).

In addition to making camping experiences available to younger boys, by the 1960s and 1970s Minneapolis YMCA and St. Paul YMCA camps had also started to become more inclusive towards girls and women. The St. Paul YMCA began offering a wilderness YMCA camping experience to families with the purchase of Camp duNord in 1960. And by the end of the 1970s, girls were campers and women were counselors at most of the Minneapolis YMCA and St. Paul YMCA camps.

In 2011 the Minneapolis YMCA operated four overnight camps (Icaghowan, Menogyn, Ihduhapi, and Warren) and six regional day camps (Kici Yapi, Christmas Tree, Streefland, Guy Robinson, Manitou, and Day Ihduhapi) and the St. Paul YMCA operated three overnight camps (St. Croix, Widjiwagan, and duNord) and four day camps (Heritage, Kumalya, DayCroix, and Sacajawea). On January 1, 2012, the YMCA of Metropolitan Minneapolis and the YMCA of Greater St. Paul merged to form one of the largest Y associations in the United States—the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities. Camps that had been owned by either the Minneapolis YMCA or the St. Paul YMCA continued operations but under the newly created organization the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities.

As of 2018, the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities operated seven overnight camps (Icaghowan, St. Croix, Menogyn, Widjiwagan, Ihduhapi, Warren, and duNord) and ten day camps (Christmas Tree, DayCroix, Guy Robinson, Heritage, Day Ihduhapi, Kici Yapi, Kumalya, Manitou, Spring Lake, and Streefland).

(Information taken from Breaking New Ground, Building Strong Lives: 140 Years of Youth Work with the Minneapolis YMCA by Paul Hillmer; from Builders of Men: A History of the Minneapolis Young Men's Christian Association: 1866-1936 by S. Wirt Wiley and Florence Lehmann; and from the collection).