Founded on 5 May 1885, the club's unusual name was taken from the hometown of founder and president George Leux.

The Leux family was well known as sportsmen in Frankfurt and George had come to Berlin to order to be better able to pursue his career as an artist.

Initially, the team played rugby, one of several English sports including association football and cricket becoming popular in continental Europe at the time, but by the end of the decade rugby had been given up for association football.

Frankfurt played in several of Berlin's early football leagues and were city champions in the Allgemeiner Deutscher Sport Bund in 1898 after finishing second to BTuFC Britannia 1892 the year before.

The first match known to be played between clubs from two different German cities saw BFCF defeat Bremer FC Teutonia 5:0 on 11 March 1894.