Wissahickon is proud and honored to hold the distinction of being the FIRST CLUB IN THE NATION CHARTERED TO SERVE THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY. The club, established to serve Negro Boys, has always extended its welcome and services to youth regardless of race, creed or gender.

The Wissahickon Boys & Girls Club originated after the Civil War as the Pulaskitown Free Kindergarten to serve children of newly freed slaves and free men who worked as domestics in the homes of the wealthy merchants of Germantown. The Club, over the years of the late 1880’s thru 1906 had several name changes, until we became one of the charter members of the BOYS CLUBS FEDERATION – the parent of today’s Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

The Club’s original building constructed in 1885, is located at the corner of Pulaski Ave. & Coulter Street. There, youth from six years to 18 years of age were trained to be good citizens, taught job skills, helped to maximize their academic endeavors and given the tools to excel in sports. Wissahickon was one of the Boys and Girls Clubs facilities to have an outside swimming pool (built in 1924) had a championship football team in 1913. This building was sold in the early 1980’s, when the Club relocated to its present location at 328 W. Coulter Street in the old Keyser School.

In 1974 Wissahickon along with Nicetown, Northwest Frankford and Bridesburg Clubs merged to form Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Phila. Germantown joined in 1980 and West Kensington was added in 1997. This merger was spearheaded by United Way as a means to optimize our ability to obtain the funding needed to continue the work of serving the youth of our communities in the most positive and fruitful ways possible.