Anthony Bowen YMCA (Twelfth Street YMCA) - View this location on map Home of the nation's first African-American chapter of the Young Men's Christian Association, founded in 1853 by educator, religious leader, and former slave Anthony Bowen (1809-71) to provide educational, social, and recreational services to men and boys; first full-service metropolitan building erected for the African-American YMCA, and the oldest of a handful remaining; major commission of W. Sidney Pittman, one of the nation's first African-American architects; construction instigated by Samuel W. Woodward, supported with funds from philanthropists John D. Rockefeller and Julius Rosenwald, matched by a local Capital Campaign; cornerstone laid by Theodore Roosevelt; one of the city's most influential social service organizations, active in community causes and the civil rights movement; built 1908-12, rededicated to Bowen in 1973, closed 1985; 4 stories, Italian Renaissance Revival style 1816 12th Street, NW, Washington , DC Historical

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