The Meriden Boys’ Club originated in a single room in Turner Hall on Colony Street with little more than a stove for warmth, a small library, and a few scattered tables and benches. Activities were relatively limited in scope, and included “parlor “games like Charades, Blind Man’s Bluff and Twenty Questions. Mr. W. H. Catlin was the man who started it all, establishing a club on March 27, 1888, making Meriden one of the very first Clubs in the entire country.