Prospect Park YMCA photographs

HISTORY OF PROSPECT PARK BRANCH The Prospect Park YMCA, located at 357 9th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues in Brooklyn, has been serving Brooklyn since the late 19th century. A feature of the Park Slope neighborhood, the Prospect Park YMCA began its operations in a converted mansion in 1891. By 1923, the huge population growth in Brooklyn placed demands on the YMCA which made its building hopelessly inadequate. The branch was closed, making way for an ambitious building campaign. On July 7, 1925, ground was broken on the Prospect Park Y's present site, and 18 months later, the current building was opened. In the spring of 2000, an $8.5 million renovation left practically no corner untouched. The facade was restored, the old lobby was replaced and all program spaces were transformed.

The Prospect Park YMCA has a long-standing commitment to housing programs and today offers affordable housing for retired sailors, echoing the work of the Bethelship Seaman's Branch that operated on the corner of Richards and Sullivan streets between 1921 and 1948. The branch also maintains a tradition of linkages with community groups such as literary societies, book clubs, and dance groups. The branch has offered literacy classes, job search training, and day camp programs for many years. The branch operated what it called an "outpost" in the Bay Ridge neighborhood and continued this work through the late 1960s.

(Information taken from History of the Brooklyn and Queens Young Men's Christian Association 1853-1949by E. Clark Worman, 1952)