Paseo YMCA

The Paseo YMCA opened in 1914, when Julius Rosenwald encouraged Kansas Citians to raise $80,000 toward building a new YMCA.^[2] The architect of the Paseo YMCA was local architect Charles A. Smith.

In 1920 eight independent black baseball team owners met to form what would become the Negro National League.^[3]

The facility closed in the 1970s.

In 2006, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum spearheaded an effort called "Thanks a Million Buck" to renovate the building and convert it to a research center and museum. The goal to raise a million dollars was quickly reached when John "Buck" O'Neil died in October 2006.^[3] The YMCA was slated to re-open as the Buck O'Neil Education Research Center in 2007. However, that plan never came to fruition.

Citing a need for expanded museum space, the organization renewed the proposal to renovate and expand the facility on May 2, 2023, as a part of the "Pitch for the Future" campaign.^[4] Organizers now hope for a 2028 opening.