Hanover Club, ca. 1911.

The Hanover Club was a prestigious German-Jewish Club opened by William Cullen Bryant, a publisher of the Brooklyn Times. It was founded in 1890, housed in the former mansion of Oscar Hawley, a wealthy box manufacturer. In its heyday, the club boasted a bowling alley, billiards club, a restaurant, and a cafe. The alley and cafe were open exclusively to women in the afternoon. During these hours, a gentleman was only allowed inside if accompanied by a lady. The club also hosted dinners in true German spirit, one of which was called the "Thumb bit dinner." At said dinner supposedly, guests dined on steak piled high on slices of bread, all while wearing butcher's aprons and hats.

The 400-member club moved to a new building in Crown Heights just one year after they moved into the Hawley Mansion. As the clubhouse changed its scenery, so did the neighborhood of South Williamsburg. When the Williamsburg Bridge was completed in 1909, an influx of Jewish immigrants moved from the Lower East Side to Williamsburg. The former mansion became the Young Israel Association in 1922, an orthodox institution that aimed to provide new immigrants with a space to connect with their community and their religious beliefs. The building is now Bais Yaskov of Adas Yereim.