The very first Young Men’s Christian Association ever was formed in London, England, in June 1844. The first American YMCA opened in Boston in 1851. Twenty-two years to the month after the London Y, the Grand Rapids YMCA was organized by a group of men led by Moreau S. Crosby. Crosby, the son of Insurance Agents J.S. Crosby & Son, had lent his office for the formulating meeting and was named the organization's first president.

Reflecting the mission of the national organization, the Grand Rapids Y was initially mainly concerned with Protestant evangelism as a means of protecting and benefiting young, single, idle men in the city. Operating out of a series of different rented spaces, the group conducted prayer meetings, public sermons, Bible studies and social events. They maintained a reading room and an employment bureau.

Eventually the mission would broaden, also in tune with the national organization, to include educational programs, war relief, programs for the working man, and camping trips for boys. The Grand Rapids Y hosted classes on a variety of subjects ranging from the cultural to the vocational. While, unlike the national organization, it just missed the Civil War; the local Y would go on to become heavily involved in World War I and II relief efforts. The Y took a special interest in working men, establishing a branch for railroad men and taking a wide spectrum of programs into the factories. The Y has sponsored boys camping retreats since the late 1890s. Camp Mannitou-Lin, the first in a series of Y owned campgrounds, opened after a piece of property on Barlow Lake in Barry county was donated to the Grand Rapids YMCA in 1912.

Physical activity was introduced into the Young Men’s Christian Association later in its history. Gymnastics and then body building were new trends welcomed by the Y. In the mid 1870s, while the Grand Rapids Y was still in rented rooms, it began making space for a gymnasium. In the 1890s, both basketball and volleyball were invented and spread quickly at the YMCAs.

In 1886, The Grand Rapids YMCA was able to occupy an entire building for the first time upon leasing one on the corner of Ottawa and Pearl from Julius Berkey. The organization realized a long held dream of building and owning its own structure when what is today known as the Federal Square building was dedicated on March 28, 1893. The association eventually outgrew this building and a new home was dedicated April 11, 1915.

From the 1960s to the present, there has been an emphasis on family activities at the YMCA. When the Grand Rapids YMCA first opened, it encouraged women to join and charged them half the price of men for a membership. Women’s suffrage meetings were held at the YM in the 1870s and women were swimming at the YM regularly in the late teens and early twenties. Generally, however the YMCA’s programs have been restricted to men until the 1960s. From the 1960s to the present, the YMCA has grown into an organization with equal access to men, women and children. Today the YMCA has a very active child care program.