On December 29, 1866 a handful of men met for a prayer meeting in a basement room of the First Baptist church on the corner of Washington and Liberty Streets in downtown Painesville.They decided to found a men's Christian service organization.

Two years later, the group moved to larger quarters above the Gail G. Grant department store at 71 Main Street in Painesville.

In 1907, the Y moved to a permanent home on Park Place in the completely renovated former Steele family mansion on Painesville's square.The facility contained a reading room, mechanical-drawing room, boys' game room, two classrooms, swimming pool, showers, gym and dormitory.

In 1914, the Y reserved time especially for young women's classes and activities, one of the earliest associations to do so.

The Painesville YMCA and the County YMCA merged in 1922, bringing together many disparate program centers as the unified Lake County YMCA, the second-oldest YMCA in continuous operation in the state of Ohio.

In 1954, a branch was established in Madison to serve the eastern communities, and similarly the West End Branch came into being with classes in the Willoughby Armory to serve western Lake County.

In 1957, Painesville's Central Branch on the square moved to the Miller mansion at 933 Mentor Avenue in Painesville.Renovations cost $980,000 and included facilities for women and children.

By 1965 both East End Branch in Madison and West End Branch in Willoughby had established themselves as full-facility branches with extensive programming.

The Outdoor Family Center in Perry Township was dedicated in 1981.The OFC's extensive facilities are situated on 177 acres of forested land on a mile and a half of the federally protected Grand River.

In the 1990s, childcare centers were established in Perry, Fairport, Painesville and Madison, serving children from infant-toddler to latchkey.

Today the Lake County YMCA annually serves roughly 50,000 members and program participants, tops in market penetration for multi-branch YMCAs in the Midwest.