Over a century ago, an idea for a Boys Club was conceived and plans for it were created by Owen Dawson, Hugh Peck and Percy Douglas. Meetings were held in the Nazareth Street Mission at the corner of Wellington and Nazareth Street.

In 1905, a new club house opened on Shannon Street: the Griffintown Boys Club. This was the first Boys Club to be established in a building in Canada. As the years went by these premises grew too small for the constantly expanding program and in 1929, a campaign was launched under the patronage of Sir Edward Beatty to raise funds for a new building.

On February 1st, 1930 the club house at 1031 Ottawa Street was opened as the Griffintown Club. Its programs included a nursery school, summer day camp, physical, social and educational activities, parents club, dental clinic, counselling, legal advocacy and home visits.

The work in this area continued for 22 years, until 1952 when it became clear that the Club was serving a neighbourhood which was becoming increasingly industrialized. This industrialization resulted in a large emigration of the population to other neighbourhoods and consequently a slow drop in the number of club enrollments.

The profits from the sale of the Club building combined with a sizable bequest from the Owen Dawson Estate (one of the original founders of the Club) was put into a trust for the creation of another club to be located in the greater Montreal area where it was most needed.

In January 1958, a meeting of the Board of Directors was held to determine where the new club should be located; in April of the same year, land was purchased on Woodland and Egan Avenues in Verdun.

Work commenced on the building in September 1958, and in July 1959, the new club opened. The name was changed from the Griffintown Club to the Dawson Boys Club, but the goals remained the same: improvement of physical fitness and health habits, and the all-round enrichment of the physical, moral and social wellbeing of members of the local community.

On January 18th, 1960 the club house was officially opened by the Governor General of Canada, George Vanier, and his wife.

During the 1960s and 70s the Dawson Boys Club offered a variety of recreational programs, primarily to children from three to eight years of age, mainly from the West end of Verdun. During this period, the majority of users of the programs were Anglophone, reflecting the demographics of the population from this neighbourhood.

In the middle of the 1970's, the national organization of Boys Clubs of Canada officially changed its name to Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada in order to recognize the other half of the population being served across Canada. Dawson officially changed its name to Dawson Boys and Girls Club at this time.

Thus, as a community centre, we have become a reflection of the Verdun community - a place for French and English citizens, of all ages and incomes, to meet, and where we strive to respond to their social and recreational needs.