In October 1877, a YMCA for African American men was organized under the leadership of P.H. Murray. Ten years later a second attempt to start a YMCA movement for African Americans started in St. Louis by Principal John Boyer, Vashon, and associates. Five years later, Thomas Alexander Marshall led the third attempt to revitalized this movement.
After many attempts, in 1912 the Afro-American Young Men's Christian Home Association was readmitted to the association. In 1917, the land was purchased at the corner of Pine and Union for the Pine Street YMCA. The Land Clearance Authority purchased and demolished the Pine Street Y in 1960 as part of a rehabilitation project.
Seeking a new location, 6.5 acres of Principia School, 5555 Page Avenue, was purchased and a new branch was built, the Page Park Y.
In 1964, the Junior Kindergarten program was started in the Old Carriage House on the Principia site. The Junior Kindergarten was founded by the Junior League of St. Louis as a part of the White House's program on early education and became a model for the national "Head Start" program.
The Page Park and North Side YMCA branches were merged in 1975 to form the City North Branch under the direction of William James Taylor.
In 1981, the City North Branch was remodeled and reopened as the Monsanto Family YMCA.
A groundbreaking was held on December 16, 2019, to announce a large-scale remodel and renaming of the Monsanto Family YMCA to the Bayer YMCA.
