☞ REMEMBER: Exercising at the YMCA c. 1920

The above photo of young men working out at the Harlem YMCA had us thinking about the 135th Street branch but upon closer inspection, one can deduce that this is really the original 125th Street location.  By the time the 125th Street YMCA closed in 1929, another branch would have already opened up on 135th Street that would be a primarily African-American establishment.  This earlier branch was built in 1880 when Harlem's first residential boom would mainly consist of large German, Irish, Italian and Jewish populations. A photo of the original 125th Street YMCA facaded can be seen in our past post: LINK.  Archival photo courtesy NYPL