Second Avenue (German Branch) YMCA records

The Second Avenue Branch of the YMCA in New York City was organized in 1881, and was known at first as the German Branch. Initial meetings were held in rented rooms near the 23rd Street branch, but this location proved inconvenient for German-speaking young men, who primarily lived and worked downtown. Consequently, the branch rented rooms on Broad Street, near the Bowery. By the end of the 19th century, the branch had acquired a building at 142 Second Avenue and was known as the Second Avenue Branch. It attracted not only German-speaking young men, but also men from 17 other countries, making the name "German Branch" a less than accurate depiction of the membership.

The Second Avenue, or German, branch,was not the first effort to establish a YMCA for German immigrants. As early as 1850 -- before the work had spread to North America, German immigrants had established a Christlicher Verein Junger Maenner, replicating the German YMCA. The effort was apparently short-lived despite the flood of German immigrants arriving in New York after 1848. German YMCAs had opened in Milwaukee and other cities with significant German populations, including Brooklyn. However, as the German immigrants assimilated, the need for branches targeted toward particular language groups declined. The Brooklyn German branch, for example, lasted only a few years after its founding in 1893.