HAVERHILL - There are 4,000 Boys Clubs across the country, and all but two of them allow girls.

One of them is in Haverhill, where the club has been the exclusive domain of boys for 108 years.

If you drive by the club at the edge of downtown, you'll see boys coming and going - mostly inner city kids who ride their bikes or walk to the club for games of basketball, to get help with homework or just hang out.

But before long you'll see girls there, too.

After more than a century, the club is going coed.

First, it plans to open its summer camp to girls this year, and then go fully coed at the club sometime after renovating the building to make it suitable for girls as well as boys. The work includes the addition of girls bathrooms and updated security cameras, club officials said.

Most other Boys Clubs converted to Boys & Girls Clubs in the late 1980s to early 1990s, club officials said. Haverhill's club remained just for boys because there were other organizations in the city that served girls. They include Girls Inc. (an after-school and weekend club for girls), the YWCA and the Girl Scouts, said Robert Wysocki, longtime member of the Haverhill Boys Club's board of directors.

"Our board met with the directors of Girls Inc. a few years ago to discuss our club's future plans," Wysocki said. "Girls Inc. serves a certain clientele and serves it well. Our program is more for the sisters and brothers that come to our club."

Club member Genaro Muniz, 16, said it was a surprise when he found out girls will be allowed to join.

"I was kind of shocked to learn girls will be coming to our summer camp," he said. "I think it will be a good thing because we'll be able to make new friends."

The summer camp, called Camp Tasker, is in Newton, N.H.

Club member Peter Comeau, 12, said he's looking forward to having girls at the club.

"Some of the boys are shy, so this might help them overcome that," he said.

Wysocki said the Haverhill Boys Club was the 43rd Boys Club to open in America. Haverhill's club has recently been inviting girls in for certain events, he said. The club brought boys and girls together for the club's annual Christmas party in December. Sisters and other female relatives of club members were invited to what had traditionally been an all-boys event. Close to 50 girls, as well as more than 100 boys, attended the party, said acting club Director Brian Theirrien.

"The board of directors wanted to make this change to better serve the youth of Haverhill," Theirrien said. "We want to make sure that the girls and the boys have equal access to all of our programs."

One of the first steps to going coed is to hire a female summer camp director for Camp Tasker. The club on Emerson Street also must be transformed by hiring female staff, making sure the facilities are appropriate for boys and girls, expanding game rooms and creating more open areas for greater visibility and supervisory purposes.

The Haverhill Boys Club has 700 members. The club also serves 120 other youths who are not members.

Theirrien said once the transformation is complete, the new name will be the Greater Haverhill Boys & Girls Club.





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Haverhill Boys Club

* 55 Emerson St.

* 108 years old

* 700 members

* Exclusive to boys, until now

* Summer camp opens to girls this year

* Entire club opens to girls after renovations

* Changes include adding female staff



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Changes to the Boys Club:

* Creating two girls bathrooms.

* Opening up areas of the building to make them more visible to staff members.

* Installing a video surveillance and member identification system.

* Buying new exercise equipment, such as treadmills.

* Upgrading the building's heating and electrical systems.

* Installing emergency telephones throughout the building.

* Hiring a new female activities director, as well as female staff.

* Creating activities suited to both girls and boys.

* Converting a storage room to a multicultural arts and education center.

* Creating a new handicap access entrance at the Bailey Boulevard side of the building.

* Converting basement storage rooms into a clubhouse for teenage members.