The Bay Area Agency on Aging had its beginnings in December 1973 as the Area Agency on Aging District 3, Inc. and the Area Agency on Aging District 4, Inc. The purposes were to encourage and assist local agencies located in Wisconsin District 3 and 4 to concentrate resources in order to develop greater capacity and foster the development of comprehensive and coordinated service systems to serve older persons by entering into new cooperative agreements with each other and with providers of social services and, where necessary, to reorganize or reassign functions, in order to 1) Secure and maintain maximum independence and dignity in a home environment for older persons capable of self-care with appropriate supportive services; and 2) Remove individual and social barriers to economic and personal independence for older persons.

The individuals that started these organizations need to be recognized and congratulated for their foresight in setting up these organizations to help the counties bring services to its seniors. The initial directors of District 3 were: Robert Larson of Waupaca; Dave Schneider of Waupaca; and John Nimols of Waupaca. The initial directors of District 4 were: Mrs. Lu McGuire of Lena; George Dauplaise of Green Bay; and Frank Joswick of Pulaski. These individuals had the courage to band together to start the process of providing services seniors in their communities. Their ideas caught on and spread all across Wisconsin, first to the counties and then to the tribes in the state.

In February, 1984, Districts 3 and 4 merged into the Lake Michigan-Winnebago Area Agency on Aging. The counties involved in this merger included: Brown, Calumet, Door, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marinette, Marquette, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano, Sheboygan, Waupaca, Waushara, Winnebago and the Native American Reservations of Oneida, Menominee, and Stockbridge-Munsee.

Until the appointment of the new members of the Lake Michigan-Winnebago Area Agency on Aging, the President of District 3, Erwin Gorges and the President of District 4, Lu McGuire served as alternating Presidents of the Board of Directors of the newly formed agency. The first office of this newly formed agency was located at 1241 Bellevue Street in Green Bay. Members of the Board of Directors in District 3 and District 4 at the time of the merger included: Wilma Springer, Loretta Elliott, Clarence Mielke, Eugene Swinsky, Shirley Shorey, Erwin Gorges, Robert Brussat, George Butkiewicz, Hurley Parkhurst, Bernice Pigeon, Rufus Entringer, Kenneth Larson, Frank Buettner, Claryce Maedke, Lu McGuire, Rev. James Feay, Frank Joswick, Raymond Meilahn, and Eugene Madden.

Then on September 15, 1993 the organization took its final name change to become the Bay Area Agency on Aging.