History

Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee had its beginnings in 1903 when three civic minded women noticed that there was no safe place for young boys, especially those selling papers, to go in the afternoons and during the summer.  The ladies decided that they would write letters to everyone they knew in hopes of raising enough money to start the first Club.  The Nashville Boys Club and Aid Society was started that night and became a part of history.  The Society ran the Club independently until 1906, when it joined 52 other Boys Clubs around the nation to form the Boys Clubs of America movement.  This nationwide organization promoted safe, fun and enriching places for young men and boys.  In 1917, the State of Tennessee chartered the organization.

From 1920 to 1965, the Nashville Boys Club moved from its home in downtown Nashville to eight settlement houses across Davidson County.  Linking with organizations like Martha O’Bryan and St. Luke’s Community House, the Boys Club funded “Boy Workers” to provide daily programming for neighborhood boys. 

Furthermore, the Nashville Boys Club recognized the needs of African American youth by establishing Clubs with Fisk University and Bethlehem Center.  However, in 1965 the Nashville Boys Club opted to consolidate its services and establish its own facility in the Woodbine community on Thompson Lane.  With the help of some of Nashville’s most prominent citizens, the board of directors raised $500,000 to build a 30,000 square foot facility on 30 acres of land.  With the help of future President Richard Nixon, the Thompson Lane Boys Club was dedicated on May 2, 1965.

For 30 years, the Thompson Lane Facility served thousands of Nashville’s young men, providing supervision, athletics, community involvement and summer camps.  The popularity of the Club became so great that expansion was necessary.   Recognizing the special needs of those youth living in public housing communities, the Andrew Jackson Club was opened in the Andrew Jackson housing projects in 1986, along with reopening the Martha O’Bryan Club in the James A. Cayce housing project.   Nashville Boys Club became Boys Clubs of Middle Tennessee in 1986 to reflect the expansion of the service area and in 1989 the Franklin Club was opened to serve the youth of Williamson County. 

The eighties brought one more major change to the Clubs.  In 1989, the name was officially changed to “Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee” to reflect to full and equal services extended to both boys and girls.  By 1999, four more Boys & Girls Clubs were opened in Davidson County: a Salvation Army collaboration in the Magness-Potter community center, one in the Vine Hill Community Center, one in the John Henry Hale Homes neighborhood, and a YMCA collaboration in the Preston Taylor community. 

It was apparent that the mission statement, “To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring and responsible citizens,”  is as much a mission as a way of life for the Club members and staff.  The positive impact the Clubs make on the lives of Nashville’s youth is irrefutable. 

Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee reaches nearly 5,000 boys, girls, young men and women each year.  Programs have gone far beyond a hot meal and a warm room.  The Clubs provide guidance and education in five key areas: Character & Leadership Development, Education & Career Development, Health & Life Skills, the Arts, and Sports, Fitness & Recreation.  The five local sites serve youth ages 6 through 18 and have become total life centers for many at-risk youth.  The Clubs are a safe and positive place to grow, learn, play and succeed.

Upcoming Events

June 10, 2010: Steak and Burger Dinner and Charity Auction

September 18, 2010: Great Nashville Duck Race

November 1, 2010: 20th Annual Ingram Cup Golf Challenge

November 5, 2010: Wine Down Main Street event to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Franklin/Williamson County

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