92nd Street Y history

1883 Emma Lazarus, whose poem “The New Colossus” is later engraved inside the Statue of Liberty (“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses …”), teaches English to young immigrants at 92Y’s newly established downtown branch.

1886 92Y moves from 42nd Street to 721 Lexington Avenue at 58th Street.

The Clara de Hirsch Home for Working Girls, founded in 1897, merges with 92Y, leading to the construction of a new residential building to accommodate 200 women.

1899 Two years after donating a brownstone at 65th Street and Lexington Avenue, Jacob H. Schiff sees growing YMHA success and invests $150,000 to construct a new home for 92Y at 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue.

1900 The new 92Y opens at 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue — which continues to serve as the institution’s home today.

1903 92Y’s youth outreach expands with the YMHA Summer Vacation Camp for young men and boys in Sayville, Long Island — a tradition that continues today with 92Y’s popular Camps programs.

1911 Felix M. Warburg, Jacob Schiff’s son-in-law, donates Heinsheimer Memorial Annex on 92nd Street.

1913 Boy Scout Troop 635 at 92Y becomes the first troop created by a Jewish community center in America, representing the blend of Jewish and American values at the core of 92Y’s mission.

1927 Board president Judge Joseph M. Proskauer — a philanthropist and political activist — launches a $1.5 million building fund campaign.

1929 The cornerstone for a new building at 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue is laid by Mrs.

1934 92Y dramatically expands its cultural arts and educational programs under the leadership of education director William Kolodney.

1935 Dance comes to 92Y as the Dance Center is formed.

1938 The 92Y Nursery School is established.

1939 Legendary poet William Carlos Williams opens the first season at the new 92Y Poetry Center.

1945 YMHA is reorganized as Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association: YM-YWHA. The newly united organization thrives in the postwar era, with waiting lists for many programs.

1947 92Y offers its first pottery classes — leading to the development of its esteemed Ceramics Center.

1950 Yorkville Neighborhood Club, the predecessor of 92Y’s highly regarded 60-and-up program —now the Himan Brown Senior Program — is established to serve older adults.

92Y’s Poetry Center celebrates Dylan Thomas’ centennial with a dramatic reading of his play Under Milk Wood — first presented at 92Y with Thomas in 1953 — starring Michael Sheen, Kate Burton and others.

1955 Camp Yomi (“My Day”) is founded, with activities at 92Y and at the Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds in Rockland County.

1959 The Noar After-School Program is instituted, and it continues to provide children with a range of after-school activities and enrichment today.

1964 Truman Capote debuts his landmark work of creative nonfiction, In Cold Blood, on 92Y’s Kaufmann Concert Hall stage.

1966 Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda gives his first US reading at 92Y, and Leonard Cohen reads his poetry and performs “The Stranger Song.”

1968 92Y’s Henry Kaufmann Building (known today as the South Wing) opens.

1970 “An Evening with ‘Yip’ Harburg” inaugurates the Lyrics & Lyricists™ concert series.

1973 The Chamber Music at 92Y and Distinguished Artists concert series are created.

1974 Nineteen-year-old cellist Yo-Yo Ma gives his first 92Y recital.

1979 92Y opens the first-ever Parenting Center in the country, providing expert advice and a nurturing home for parents and their young children.

Classical guitar master Andrés Segovia performs at 92Y — where he will return for another concert in 1980.

1982 Columbia University film professor Annette Insdorf moderates her first film talk at 92Y. Insdorf will become the moderator of 92Y’s signature film series, Reel Pieces, which features preview screenings and conversations with Hollywood’s leading actors and directors.

1985 The Jazz in July concert series begins under the artistic direction of the great jazz pianist Dick Hyman.

1987 Celebrated writer Maya Angelou discusses literature with the first group of NYC public school students in the Poetry Center Schools Project — now known as the Christopher Lightfoot Walker Schools Project.

1990 Our flagship educational outreach series, the Musical Introduction Series, begins bringing the arts to New York City’s public schoolchildren.

1991 The Tisch Center for the Arts is named with a generous gift from the Tisch family.

1992 The Bronfman Center for Jewish Life is named with a special gift from the Samuel Bronfman Foundation.

1994 The Harkness Dance Center is named with generous support from the Harkness Foundation of Dance.

1996 The Charles Simon Center for Adult Life & Learning is endowed by a bequest from Charles Simon, and the May Center for Health, Fitness & Sport is endowed by Leni and Peter May.

1998 The Lillian & Sol Goldman Family Center for Youth & Family is named with an endowment from the Goldman family.

1999 92Y constructs a “village” of three facilities at the Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds in Rockland County to house fine arts and nature programs.

The center opens in 2001.

2003 The Recanati-Kaplan Program for Excellence in the Arts is founded — with the support of Daphne Recanati Kaplan and Thomas S. Kaplan — and begins offering merit scholarships for exceptional talent in music, dance and art to children ages 7 to 17.

The historic scene is later reenacted in the Academy Award-winning film Capote (2005).

2009 92Y celebrates its rich history of support for contemporary dance with 75 Years of 92Y Dance: Past Future Now, which includes a historical exhibition, an anniversary gala performance and more than 200 dancers and choreographers performing at 92Y during the anniversary season.

2010 The first annual Social Good Summit, a forum dedicated to new technology and the social good, is presented at 92Y and webcast live, allowing people around the world to participate.

2011 92Y’s 60-and-up program is renamed the Himan Brown Senior Program in memory of Himan Brown, a pioneer in radio whose bequest will help thousands of people as they age.

2012 The first annual #GivingTuesday is created by 92Y and implemented with the United Nations Foundation as a national day of giving on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

2013 92Y’s Unterberg Poetry Center celebrates its 75th anniversary with special programming, including a historical exhibition, Love the Words, and “75 at 75,” an online collection of commissioned essays to accompany archival recordings, all available at 92YOnDemand.org.

2014 92Y’s Center for Education Outreach celebrates 25 years of bringing the arts and literature to more than 16,000 students and teachers in 56 New York City public schools annually.

2016 92Y launches the Women inPower Fellowship, a dynamic new cross-sector program designed to help women advance to the next stage of their careers and make a social impact.

2017 92Y launches Teen Producers, the first arts fellowship of its kind.