Born: 1832, United States
Died: 1917
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Pauline Fowle
The following is republished with permission from the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail.
The Boston Young Women’s Christian Association, the first in the nation, was founded in 1866 by upper middle-class Protestant women. Led by Pauline Durant (1832-1917) until 1905, the YWCA hoped to guide and guard the young rural women coming to the city to work. The YWCA provided them with lodging and employment assistance. By the early twentieth century, the YWCA had added a School of Domestic Science and a popular gymnasium. The young women whom they served began to take an active role in the organization’s management and established a busy club program.
IW note: Durant and her husband also founded Wellesley, a renowned women’s college, in 1870.