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In 1892 the Calcutta Congregation of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj passed a resolution  asking Sivnath Shastri to open a branch in Bhowanipore for the benefit of the congregation living there.
Initially weekly services were started at the drawing room of Durga Mohan Das and the members of the other two Samajes were invited to join them. It was transferred to other places afterwards. What was noticeable that members of both Samajes - the Adi Brahmo Samaj and Brahmo Samaj of India cheerfully attended these services.
The Bhowanipore Suburban Brahmo Samaj was established on 28th of August 1897. Some residents of Bhowanipore, most of them young people, and those who ran the Prarthana Samaj at Garcha, took the initiative and started the Samaj at 79, Puddapukur Road in a two storied house. Five years later, in 1902, the Samaj was shifted to 93, Russa Road in a three storied building.
The services were conducted on an union principle - and both members of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj and Brahmo Samaj of India were invited to take the pulpit. However the members of the old South Suburban Samaj (estd. 1874) did not like the manner of the union and kept up their old style of prayer.
 Sivnath Shastri was the first minister of the Samaj from 1897 - 1902 and again from 1910 -1912. Pyari Lal Roy was most probably the first president and Lakshmi Narayan Chowdhury was the first secretary. Four distinguished men had a distinct hand in the upkeep of the Sammilan Samaj. These were Chandicharan Sen, K N Roy, Ram Brahma Sanyal and Ambika Charan Sen. Chandicharan Sen helped by conducting the divine services as the minister of the Samaj. K N Roy who was from the Indian Statutory Civil Service filled up some of the highest positions like Magistrate and Judge in the country. He settled down in Bhowanipore after retirement and devoted his life to Samaj work. Ram Brahma Sanyal was the superintendent of the Alipore Zoological Gardens. He donated a large amount of money for the purchase of the land for the building of the Samaj. Ambika Charan Sen was also a member of the Indian Statutory Civil service and settled down in Bhowanipore after retirement. He also devoted his life to spread of the Brahmo gospel.
Adoption of the name Brahmo Sammilan Samaj
 Barrister Chitta Ranjan Das (1870 - 1925), a son of the Brahmo attorney Bhuban Mohan Das (1844 - 1914), and a nephew of Durga Mohan Das (1841 - 1897), one of the founders of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj and a bold reformer, was one of the key persons of this Samaj in this period and he was responsible for two very important developments. It was his proposal that for the purpose of ensuring the full participation of Brahmo Ministers and members owing allegiance to all the three sections Adi, Navabidhan, and Sadharan Samajes, a new name, namely "Brahmo Sammilan Samaj" be adopted. This formal proposal was passed at a Special General Meeting held on 1st October 1902. Unity of all Brahmos in worship and in welfare and social activities had been a marked feature of the nascent institution and the future Deshbandhu felt that this should be enshrined in the very name as also in the rules and regulations of the Samaj. So he proposed yet another resolution that a committee be appointed to frame rules and regulations and to draw up a trust deed relating to the land and building that the Samaj was hoping to acquire and this also was accepted unanimously. The drafts presented by him were accepted at a meeting held on 16th.November 1902 and it can be legitimately surmised that he had done the bulk of the work involved.
 Bipin Chandra Pal (1857-1932) joined the Samaj in 1902 and was appointed Minister of the Samaj for 1902-1904. Earlier, in 1902, he was nominated to represent the Samaj at the ensuing All lndia Theistic Conference in Ahmedabad. The Samaj had 74 members in 1902. The members had felt the need for having a mandir of their own and they also had the confidence that the Samaj would be able to collect the resources necessary to have a home for itself. Before the end of 1902. a plot of land measuring 10 cottahs was bought for Rs. 4,000 in the name of the President, Rai Bahadur Ram Brahmo Sanyal and a building committee was constituted on 4th January 1903. The premises number was 110/1/1 Russa Road (North). The general ideas about the plan of the mandir building were accepted by the Governing Body on 24th May 1903 and the details with the engineer's report on 21st June. The foundation stone however was not laid till the 21st of January 1905. The mandir was used from 1907 and it remained the home of the Samaj till about 1918 when the Improvement Trust acquired it for the purpose of widening the road there.
The firm of Messrs. Martin & Company was chosen as engineers and contractors. A reference in the minutes of the Governing Body on 29th August 1908, indicates that Rs. 4,300 was due to the President Ram Brahma Sanyal and Rs. 1,200 to Martin & Co. for the construction of the mandir. The plot of 9 cottahs 12 chittacks had been bought for Rs. 4,0001-. When the Improvement Trust was planning to acquire this land for widening roads in Bhowanipur, starting from around 1915, it offered the Samaj Rs. 13,500 as the cash value of the structure and an alternative plot elsewhere in Bhowanipore measuring about 10 cottahs.
The Building of the New Mandir
 The Calcutta Improvement Trust took up extensive programmes for laying out new roads and parks and widening existing roads and lanes in Bhowanipore in 1916 and one of the schemes involved the demolition of this building. So long as the Samaj did not have a mandir of its own, its services as an internal arrangement, were held at the Puddapukur Brahmo Samaj. The Samaj finally chose this present site to the east of the Dwarka Nath Mitra Square, on Dr. Rajendra Road. The dimension of the plot being 6 cottahs.
The foundation stone of the new Mandir was laid on the Maghotsava day of 1919  (11 th Magh 1325 B.E.). The suggestion of Sashi Bhushan Majumder to add a gallery in the hall was accepted and this was built at a cost of Rs. 2,500/-. The consecration of the Mandir took place on 11th January 1920 and the prayers that day were offered by Satyendra Nath Tagore and Satish Chandra Chakraborty, the then Permanent Minister. The quarters for the Permanent Minister, a three storied building to the north of the mandir was built at the same time. The ground floor of the annexe to the east of the mandir was built in 1952. Its second storey named after Satish Chandra Chakraborty was added in 1958.
Programmes of the Samaj
Bhowanipore Sunday School was started on 2nd February 1902 in the then prayer hall of the Samaj, with 14 children. Hemlata Sarkar, daughter of Sivnath Shastri and Sunitibala Chaudhury were entrusted with the running of the school. Student's Weekly Service was started on 1st August 1909. A decision was taken on 20th October 1913 that there would be a Sangat Sabha every Monday and a service for families once every fortnight. Rabindranath Tagore conducted the divine service on the morning of 17th Magh, 1915. This was the Sunday following the Maghotsava that year and most probably the Samaj had a day long festival that day as has been the custom as far back as memory goes. During the Maghotsava festival that year, Maharani Suniti Devi of Coach Behar and the eldest daughter of Keshub Chandra Sen, conducted a Kathakata programme on 8th Magh.
The Samaj decided to establish a library on 24th September 1911. This came to be known as the 'Prarthana Samaj Library.' Rules about the composition of its committee of management of the library were laid down some years 1ater. The charitable homoeopathic dispensary was started in 1940 The initiative was taken by Malati Bose, the only daughter of the celebrated homoeopath Dr. Dwarka Nath Ray. She made a donation of Rs.5,000/- for this purpose. The ground floor of the annexe to the mandir came to be named Dr. D. N. Ray Memorial Hall. The dispensary was put under the management of a separate body called the Bhowanipur Charitable Homoeopathic Hospital which was registered under the Societies Registration Act.
The Samaj started a evening school for the under privileged children of the slums close to it many years ago. This school continues and now meets in late afternoon. A programme for teaching useful crafts like sewing and tailoring to the women of these slums was also taken up many years ago this also has been going on.
The Samaj has been blessed with pious and devoted Permanent Ministers. Satish Chandra  Chakraborty held this office from 1919 till his death in 1943. Nani Bhusan Das Gupta from 1950 to 1957 and again in 1975 and Sudhir Chandra Chatterjee from 1958 to 1974. Professor Binayendra Nath Sen was .the Minister in 1911. Others' who have held the office for brief periods were Kedar Nath Roy (1909), Kanti Chandra Mitra (1911), Brojo Gopal Niyogi (1912,1917), Dr. Pran Krishna Acharya (1913, 1918), Gurudas Chakraborty (1913,1915,1916), Krishna Kumar Mitra (1913,1.914), Bipin Behari Chakraborty (1946 to 1948). The monthly organ of the Samaj is the Brahmo Sammilan Barta which is bi-lingual in Bengali and English.
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| Donations to the Samaj are Tax free!! |
| The Samaj has been registered under Section 12-A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on 30th April 2004 with effect from 1st April 2003. |
| The Samaj has been granted exemption under Section 80-G of the Income Tax Act, 1961 effective from 28th October 2003 to 31st March 2005. |
| Please send donations to the Secretary, Brahmo Sammilan Samaj, 1A Dr Rajendra Road, Kolkata - 700020, India |
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