There is always one friend saying to another, “What are we going to do today?” The question is always the same. Boys are the same whether in San Francisco, California, or in William Hall’s hometown of St. Marys, Pennsylvania.

Let’s look at St. Marys and see how that club started and how it is today. Of course, William Hall was instrumental in its beginning. The Hall family was a prominent one. His father, J.K.P. Hall, was a well known state senator, lumber baron, lawyer, entrepreneur, and civic leader in Elk County, Pennsylvania. William Hall never forgot where he came from, and in 1923, he gathered together the St. Marys civic leaders and proposed a Boys’ Club for the town which would later open in January of 1924.

William Hall made a number of vital personal contributions to this project. The club needed a headquarters. He had an answer to this problem. Right in the center of town was an old building that belonged to the Hall family and their business partners, the Kauls. The two families made a donation of the original Hall & Kaul Company Store building, and the St. Marys Boys’ Club had a home. The club needed a leader. Again, Mr. Hall took action. He recruited Harry “Major” Brock and moved him from New York City to St. Marys to direct the new club and its 231 original members.

Major Brock served for 34 years until his retirement in 1958. Following Major Brock were two St. Marys natives – Howard Yetzer, who worked at the club for 24 years and Ronald FinGado.

Even though the St. Marys club was once reputed to be the smallest member of the national organization, there were plenty of activities to delight the boys – a ham radio station, library, basketball team, marching band/drill team, archery, model building, plaster crafting, woodworking, and painting; plus games such as ping-pong, pool and board games, and building wooden cars for the soapbox derby competition.

All the boys were going to need jobs someday, so the club gave them vocational training. They studied mechanical drawing and developed painting and electrical skills. The boys operated their own bank. When television began, few families in St. Marys had a TV, but the Boys’ Club was the proud owner of a somewhat primitive black and white set.

As times have changed, so has the Boys’ Club. In 1983, the St. Marys Club welcomed girl members, several years before the national organization did. Today’s youth engage in personal and educational development, cultural enrichment, health and physical education, outdoor and environmental education, and computer skills.