Parlor in the School for Christian Workers Building c. 1887

A photograph of the parlor inside the School for Christian Workers Building, now Springfield College, on the corner of Sherman and State streets, c. 1887. Could be the parlor used by the Amory Hill YMCA which also rented rooms in the building. The School was founded in 1885 and construction on the school building was competed in the spring of 1886. The building consisted of a reading room, gymnasium, parlor, a recitation room, an amusement room and fifty sleeping rooms. The Armory Hill YMCA also rented rooms in the building.In 1891 James Naismith, while a faculty member at the school, invented the game of basketball in the gymnasium of the building. In 1890 the School for Christian Workers separated into two schools which continued to operate out of the same building, the YMCA Training School and the School for Christian Workers. In 1896 the Training School finished the transition to its new location on Alden Street and in 1897 the School for Christian Workers became the Bible Normal College and moved to Hartford, Connecticut. The original building was torn down in 1965 to create a parking lot. In 1995, McDonald’s Corporation bought the land, excavating the original foundation and bricks before building a restaurant on the site. Today, there is a monument commemorating the site as the birthplace of basketball.The caption on the verso of this photograph reads: "Parlor in Armory Hill YMCA. Rooms on 2nd floor of S.C.W. [School for Christian Workers] Building, about 1887." Another image of this photograph is also available. To view this image click here..