ABOUT US >> History of the Red Wing Family YMCA and Camp Pepin
The Red Wing YMCA was first formed as a bible study group for young men in 1869. It was a fairly loosely run organization during its first few decades. An 1875 membership drive resulted in 59 members who paid $1.00 each to join. The interest was un-sustained though and by 1893, YMCA activities were held in rented space elsewhere in Red Wing.
In 1909, James Lawther gave $51,000 to construct a new YMCA at the present site. The original building housed a pool, a gym, several meeting rooms, and sleeping rooms. At one time there was a single lane bowling alley and a tennis court. By 1911, there were 330 members.
In 1916 Joseph Saul was hired as physical director. Saul was to eventually take over as executive director in a career that spanned 42 years. Saul remained a legendary figure at the Y where he served as a teacher and leader for thousands of boys.
Access by females started on a very limited basis in 1915. Up until the 1960’s females had access to the Y only one night a week.
By 1957, membership had risen to 952 - 218 were women. During the same year, a fundraising campaign netted $172,000 which was used to completely change the interior of the YMCA.
Joe Saul retired in 1958 having developed a successful basketball program, a Red Cross lifesaving program, and a swim lesson program that benefited over 3,000 youngsters.
His successor, Bob Schneider, would be General Secretary for 8 years before resigning in 1966 to assume similar duties in Milwaukee.
He was succeeded by Norm Westby. Norm felt strongly about the YMCA as a community resource involving youth in a wide variety of activities. Over the next 27 years ('66 - '93), Norm oversaw two facility expansions (1970 and 1980), a major focus on youth, expansion of programs, and membership growth to 4,300. The 1970 expansion is pictured at the left.
In 1993, Mark Hennessey became the 5th and current Executive Director of the Red Wing Family YMCA. Just as the YMCA membership grew during the Westby years, the membership has grown to over 6,000 during Mark's tenure.
The present building was built in three phases. In 2001, a new $7.5 million expansion renovation project was completed. Current membership totals almost 6,000 members. 
YMCA Camp Pepin is born
Summer camp programs began in 1924 when Joe Saul, the director of the Red Wing YMCA, led a group of 18 boys to set up camp at Point Au Sable near Frontenac on Lake Pepin. The session lasted for 10 days and cost the campers $5 each. Joe guided all of the activities and did all of the cooking for the boys. Eight years later, in 1932, the summer camp program moved across the lake to a rented property on Deer Island between Pepin and Stockholm, Wisconsin. By 1935, several acres of this property were acquired by the Red Wing YMCA through the generosity of John C. Friedrich.
Camp Pepin began as a summer boys’ camp. The original dining hall was built just above the beach (where the flagpole now stands). The screened-in porch of the dining hall also served as the sleeping quarters for the campers. Behind the dining hall sat the bath and shower house building. Two other buildings (little red cabins referred to as “The Swamp” and “The Shack”) were located just east of the old dining hall; they housed the summer camp directors.
In 1955, new construction was needed at Camp Pepin, including repairs to the sagging roof on the dining hall. To answer this call, youth work secretary Mentor Larsen brought together fourteen men to form the Y’s Men's Club. The Y’s Men have since added new cabins at camp, beginning with a memorial cabin to Joe Saul in 1964. These new structures would help to accommodate the growing number of campers, which by 1963 had grown to a total of 183 boys and girls between June 7th and Labor Day. Other youth groups that visited in October pushed the attendance at Camp Pepin that year to nearly 300.
Although the camp nearly closed in 1972-73, due to a ravaging storm and decreasing enrollment, donations of money and labor helped rebuild the camp, and in a few years, the need for a new dining hall became necessary. Construction by the Y’s Men began on the current dining hall in April of 1976 and was completed in 1978.
A challenge course was added to the camp in 1992. Then, in 1999, a new winterized lodge was built, allowing camp to become a year-round adventure and retreat facility. The latest additions to the camp in 2004 are bathrooms on both the Faith/Friendship building and the Y’s Men II building, and a year-round home for the camp director.