The YMCA building, designed by the El Paso architect Henry C. Trost, was completed in 1908 at a cost of $12,000, most of which came from private donations.   The first NMSU building to be constructed according to Trost's master design for the campus, it is, in a sense, the architectural cornerstone of the campus. The building's graceful lines recall the elegance and simplicity of the Italian Renaissance palazzo.  Its classicism, embodied in the abundant use of Roman arches, reflects the early twentieth-century idea of the university as a place for the propagation of the classical tradition.  Many of the design features of the YMCA building were incorporated into other NMSU buildings, both of Trost's period and later.
 

This photograph shows the YMCA building under construction, circa 1908.  Preparatory school cadets pose for the camera before the building.  (Rio Grande Historical Collections, New Mexico State University)

The YMCA building was intended to serve as a dormitory for men and as a center of campus social and cultural life.  The three-storey structure originally had nine bedrooms which provided housing for up to 25 men, who, it was said, "could lead cleaner lives by living under conditions where smoking, profanity, and general misdemeanor is prohibited."  The building also had a social room, a lunch counter, a barber shop, lavatories, and showers.  A terra cotta YMCA emblem, with the words "Mind, Body, Spirit" emblazoned upon it, still graces the entry door.  The building is on the state and national registries of historic buildings.

Until 1924, the building served as a men's dormitory run by the Young Men's Christian Association.  In 1924, it was converted to a classroom space and housed the music department.   In 1963, the university purchased the building from the YMCA.  Two years later the building became the headquarters of the Air Force ROTC program.  Since 1982, the building has been vacant.