In October 1912, a crowd of 5,000 watched as President William Taft laid the cornerstone of the Huntington Avenue YMCA. The facility would go on to provide education, exercise facilities, and family programs to generations.

Now, the branch is at a crossroads as it embarks on its next century. As it strengthens its ­array of social services and healthy-living programs, the facility is also undergoing a major overhaul and preparing to accommodate a high-rise dormitory that has raised tension in the Fenway neighborhood.