Young Men's Christian Association of Cleveland

The Young Men's Christian Association of Cleveland, Ohio, was an outgrowth of the international YMCA movement begun in England in 1844. The Cleveland YMCA was established on February 28, 1854, three years after the first American branch was founded.

The Cleveland YMCA initially operated out of a suite of rented rooms at what is now Superior and West 3rd Streets. Efforts of all the early branches were directed toward the moral and mental rehabilitation of young men. To this end, the Cleveland branch offered prayer meetings, a mission Sunday school, a lending library, and lectures, some of which were delivered by such men as Henry Ward Beecher and Cassius M. Clay.

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