YMCA of Greater New York. Brooklyn Central Branch.

The YMCA in Brooklyn, New York, founded in 1853, initially met at the Second Congregational Church, the Brooklyn Athenaeum, and other Brooklyn churches. After several other moves, it dedicated its first purpose-built building in 1885, at 502 Fulton Street--the Brooklyn Central YMCA. The new building included a "swimming bath" that was reported to be the first swimming pool in a YMCA facility. Other "firsts" credited to the Brooklyn Central Y included participation in the first professional basketball game (against the Trenton, New Jersey, YMCA) in 1896. The branch also hosted the first national YMCA swimming championships. The Brooklyn association was known for the extent and fervor of its religious work, holding many weekly prayer meetings and conducting local evangelizing work that targeted everyone, not just young men. It was also involved in missionary work abroad and maintained links with many Protestant churches in Brooklyn. In 1915, the Brooklyn Association dedicated its new Central building, known as "the largest YMCA in the world". In addition to building the new Central branch, the Brooklyn Association purchased a new site for the Twenty-sixth Ward branch and began fund raising for an expanded Prospect Park branch. In the years following World War I, the Brooklyn Association conducted Americanization programs targeted at immigrants, most of whom were not evangelical Protestants. In 1924, the association changed its name to the Brooklyn and Queens YMCA to reflect the branch's expansion into the neighboring borough. In 1957 the Brooklyn and Queens YMCA merged with the New York YMCA to become the YMCA of Greater New York. After weathering the Depression and significantly changed Brooklyn demographics, the Central branch ended the 20th century operating from a storefront in Brooklyn Heights. However, in 2005 it opened a new building on Atlantic Avenue, funded in part by a significant grant from the Dodge Foundation.