
How many settlement houses were in the US in 1900?
By 1897 there were seventy-four settlements, over a hundred in 1900, and by 1910 there were more than four hundred in operation. Most settlements were located in large cities (40 percent in Boston, Chicago, and New York), but many small cities and rural communities boasted at least one settlement house.
What was the first settlement house in America?
Inspired by Barnett's efforts, Dr. Stanton Coit and Charles B. Stover founded the first American settlement house, the Neighborhood Guild of New York City (1886). Other settlements quickly followed: Hull-House, Chicago, 1889 ( Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr); College Settlement, a clubfor girls in New York City,...
What are some of the most famous settlement houses?
Some of the more famous settlement houses in the United States have been Hull House and Chicago Commons, Chicago; South End House, Boston; and the University Settlement, Henry Street Settlement, and Greenwich House, New York City.
What is a settlement house in sociology?
Settlement houses were safe residences in poverty-stricken, mostly immigrant neighborhoods in major cities such as New York, Boston, and Chicago. The settlement house movement began in England and then emerged in the U.S. in 1886 with the founding of University Settlement House in New York City.

When did settlement houses start?
America's settlement house movement was born in the late 19th century. The Industrial Revolution; dramatic advances in technology, transportation, and communication; and an influx in immigrants caused significant population swells in urban areas. City slums emerged where families lived in crowded, unsanitary housing.
What are settlement houses in history?
Settlement house residents often acted as advocates on behalf of immigrants and their neighborhoods; and, in various areas, they organized English classes and immigrant protective associations, established “penny banks” and sponsored festivals and pageants designed to value and preserve the heritage of immigrants.
Did settlement houses provide housing?
The settlement houses provided services such as daycare, English classes, and healthcare to improve the lives of the poor in these areas. The most famous settlement house of the time was Hull House, founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Starr.
What was the first settlement house?
In 1889, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr established Hull-House in Chicago, the first settlement house in the United States.
Who invented settlement houses?
In 1889, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr founded the Hull House in Chicago's near west side. [1] Inspired by London's Toynbee Hall, the Hull House broke ground as the first settlement house in the United States.
Who lived in the settlement houses?
Settlement houses were organizations that provided support services to the urban poor and European immigrants, often including education, healthcare, childcare, and employment resources.
Were settlement houses successful?
Although settlement houses failed to eliminate the worst aspects of poverty among new immigrants, they provided some measure of relief and hope to their neighborhoods.
What is a settlement house mean?
Definition of settlement house : an institution providing various community services especially to large city populations.
What is a settlement house mean?
Definition of settlement house : an institution providing various community services especially to large city populations.
What were settlement houses quizlet?
What was a settlement house? Community centers that offer services to the poor. How did these houses help immigrants? These houses helped the immigrants because volunteers would teach classes about English and American Government.
Were settlement houses successful?
Although settlement houses failed to eliminate the worst aspects of poverty among new immigrants, they provided some measure of relief and hope to their neighborhoods.
What is settlement house in social work?
social settlement, also called settlement house, community centre, or neighbourhood house, a neighbourhood social welfare agency. The main purpose of a social settlement is the development and improvement of a neighbourhood or cluster of neighbourhoods.
How many settlement houses were there in 1930?
In 1930, there were approximately 460 settlement houses, and most of these were church supported. Settlement houses were run in part by client groups. They emphasized social reform rather than relief or assistance. (Residence, research, and reform were the three Rs of the movement.)
When were settlement houses first established?
The first American settlement house, University Settlement, was established on New York 's Lower East Side in 1886. By 1910 more than four hundred settlement houses were operating across America's urban landscape. These settlements were actually experiments not in charity but in social organization. Historians consider settlement houses the first example of social services but emphasize a major difference: social services provide specific services, whereas settlement houses aimed to improve neighborhood life as a whole.
What were settlement house workers?
Settlement house workers were educated poor persons, both children and adults, who often engaged in social action on behalf of the community . In attaining their goals, the settlement house reformers had an enviable record.
How did settlement houses affect the lives of immigrants?
Although settlement houses failed to eliminate the worst aspects of poverty among new immigrants , they provided some measure of relief and hope to their neighborhoods. Nonetheless, historians have found that settlement house workers held a very condescending attitude toward immigrant populations, one that dismissed native cultures and sought to impose decidedly white middle-class values. Despite any such limitations, settlement house workers raised public awareness of pollution issues, especially in the areas of health, sanitation, and city services. They influenced politicians and forced them to consider issues of importance to immigrants. Finally and equally importantly, settlement house workers provided a legitimate venue for women to become active in city politics and other national issues, such as the burgeoning women's suffrage movement.
What are some examples of settlement houses?
Probably the best-known example is Chicago Commons, founded in 1894 by the Reverend Graham Taylor, who was the first professor of Christian sociology at the Chicago Theological Seminary. He founded Chicago Commons partially as a social laboratory for his students. As Allen F. Davis has pointed out, of the more than 400 settlements established by 1910, 167 (more than 40 percent) were identified as religious, 31 Methodist, 29 Episcopal, 24 Jewish, 22 Roman Catholic, 20 Presbyterian, 10 Congregational, and 31 unspecified. In 1930, there were approximately 460 settlement houses, and most of these were church supported.
How did the settlement house movement affect World War I?
World War I had an adverse effect on the settlement house movement. The settlement houses declined in importance and there seemed to be less need of them. Gradually organizations such as the Young Men's Christian Association, summer camps, neighborhood youth centers, and other local and national agencies were established to carry on similar work. The settlement house movement gradually broadened into a national federation of neighborhood centers. By the early twentieth century, settlement houses were beginning to cooperate with, and merge into, " social work ." The settlement house movement led the way to community organization and group work practice within the newly proclaimed profession of social work.
What were the enclaves of immigrants?
Ethnic enclaves sheltered immigrants who were experiencing isolation, new customs, and a strange language. Established in large cities, settlement houses were privately supported institutions that focused on helping the poor and disadvantaged by addressing the environ-mental factors involved in poverty.
What is settlement house?
Today, the settlement house remains one of the primary community-based social-service providers in New York City. In neighborhoods throughout the city, places with names like “neighborhood house,” “settlement house,” and “community center” are often part of the settlement-house tradition. Recognizing the strength of neighborhood-based services, ...
What was the first settlement house in London?
In 1884 British university students opened Toynbee Hall, the first settlement house, in London’s impoverished East End. The students believed that living among the working class would bring about cross-cultural understanding and resolve the class tensions of an industrialized, urban society.
Why did settlements work?
In the United States, settlements—while maintaining cultural programs—often put more focus on the social environment and less on the individual. Economic and social forces had created dehumanizing conditions, settlement leaders argued, and settlements should work to confront these conditions directly.
What happened in 1893?
On a rainy March morning in 1893, the life of a young nurse named Lillian Wald changed forever. Wald was giving a lesson in bed-making at a school on the Lower East Side when a young girl appeared and hurriedly requested that Wald attend to her sick mother. Following the girl over broken roadways, “dirty mattresses,” and “heaps of refuse”;
What is the playground in Henry Street Settlement?
The playground in the backyard of Henry Street Settlement is shown. Settlements provided a range of activities and classes for children and encouraged safe, supervised play. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Why do settlement workers work with their clients?
Ideally, settlement workers formed close relationships with their clients, so that settlements could offer the social-service programs that answered the most urgent community needs. In neighborhoods where few residents spoke English, for example, settlement workers might offer evening language classes.
How many settlements were there in 1908?
By 1908 there were more than 100 settlements across the United States, including 19 in New York City. [iii] The first settlements, especially in England, focused on the spiritual awakening of the individual.
Graduate-Level Courses
Scudder intended that CSA houses would enable women college graduates to apply the knowledge learned in economics and sociology classes while interacting with the urban poor.
Americanization Efforts
By 1911, Philadelphia had twenty-one settlements. Most were in South Philadelphia, but others opened in other neighborhoods, including two in Kensington: The Lighthouse, founded in 1893 at 153 W. Lehigh Avenue, and the Lutheran Settlement House founded in 1902 at 1340 Frankford Avenue.
History
The movement spread to the United States in the late 1880s, with the opening of the Neighborhood Guild in New York City 's Lower East Side in 1886, and the most famous settlement house in the United States, Hull-House (1889), was founded soon after by Jane Addams and Ellen Starr in Chicago.
National conferences
A succession of more or less informal national gatherings of settlement workers were held from time to time between 1892 and 1910. [5]
Later years
In the 1920s, settlement house usage began to decline with the reduction of recently arrived immigrants under quotas of the Immigration Act of 1924.
Where did the settlement houses spread?
Led by passionate reformers like Ward and Addams, settlement houses spread to dozens of major cities across America and became fixtures in places such as Chicago, Boston, and New York. By the turn of the 20th century, the Northeast and Midwest boasted hundreds of settlement houses. Settlement Houses: Effects.
Where did the settlement house movement begin?
The settlement house movement began in England and then emerged in the U.S. in 1886 with the founding of University Settlement House in New York City.
How did Addams influence the Hull House?
Addams used the influence of Hull House to pressure governments to pass improved construction and safety laws and other legislation that addressed the conditions of the urban poor. Addams herself became a garbage inspector in Chicago's West Side.
How old was Jane Addams when she moved to South Halsted Street?
Over time, however, Jane Addams became a fixture of South Halsted Street after she leased two floors of the Hull House, an old structure built by Charles Hull. Twenty-nine-year-old Jane Addams was a reformer of the Progressive Era, which was a period from the 1890s to around 1920.
What is settlement house?
Settlement Houses: Definition. In a poor, immigrant neighborhood on Chicago's West Side in 1889, a well-dressed and well-off young lady drew the attention of residents. She was misplaced among the grime, dilapidated buildings, and scenes of poverty. Over time, however, Jane Addams became a fixture of South Halsted Street after she leased two floors ...
Why did the Reformers build settlement houses?
Second, settlement houses served a purpose for the reformers themselves, who were mostly college-educated women like Jane Addams. These women wanted to do things with the poor, not just do things for the poor. Settlement houses allowed them to live in and experience urban poverty, learn about the people there, and then figure out ways to improve the situation. For example, Lillian Ward, a nurse and pioneer of settlement houses in the U.S., joined other nurses and moved to the Lower East Side of New York City. She said they wanted ''to live in the neighborhood as nurses, identify ourselves with it socially, and contribute to it our citizenship.''
What were the two main functions of settlement houses?
First, they provided a safe place for poor residents to receive medical care and provided nurseries for the children of working mothers. They offered meals and employment placement services. They sponsored lectures and gave music lessons.
What association perpetuated the names of the original settlement houses?
However, the Chicago Commons Association (1948–) and Hull House Association (1962–), both loose federations of former settlements, neighborhood centers, and social service agencies, perpetuate the names and at least some of the aspirations of the original settlement houses. Carson, Mina.
What was the impact of the settlement house on the South during World War I?
The war diverted attention from reform and Congress drastically restricted immigration. The first wave of African Americans out of the South changed settlement neighborhoods , and residents and trustees were slow to respond.
What were the first settlements in America?
In 1889, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr launched Hull House in Chicago. As word of these experiments spread, other settlements appeared in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Hull House inspired Charles Zueblin to organize Northwestern University Settlement in 1891. The following year, Graham Taylor started Chicago Commons and Mary McDowell took charge of University of Chicago Settlement near the stockyards. By 1900, there were more than 100 settlements in America; 15 were in Chicago. Eventually there were more than 400 settlements nationwide. The most active and influential ones were in the large cities of the Northeast and Midwest.
What happened to Hull House in Chicago?
In Chicago, Hull House was displaced by a new university campus; closure of the stockyards and packinghouses undermined the University of Chicago Settlement; a new expressway destroyed much of the Chicago Commons neighborhood; and the Chicago Federation of Settlements expired in the 1980s. However, the Chicago Commons Association (1948–) and Hull House Association (1962–), both loose federations of former settlements, neighborhood centers, and social service agencies, perpetuate the names and at least some of the aspirations of the original settlement houses.
What were the first activities of the American settlements?
Thus the first outreach was to children and mothers, through day care nurseries, kindergartens , and small play lots. Mothers' clubs , English classes, and groups interested in arts, crafts, music, and drama followed. The early residents paid room and board, and volunteered as group leaders or teachers. As their numbers increased and programs expanded, the settlements incorporated and trustees raised money to purchase or build larger quarters. These structures accommodated gymnasiums, auditoriums, classrooms, and meeting halls, as well as living space and communal dining facilities for a dozen or more residents. Settlements welcomed meetings of trade unions, ethnic groups, and civic organizations. Some established country summer camps, and a few developed their music programs into serious schools. Many exchanged information through city federations, the first of which was established by the Chicago settlements in 1894. Approximately half of the American settlements, usually the smaller ones, had religious sponsors and comparatively small programs. The rest eschewed religious orientation because it was bound to offend at least some of their neighbors.
What did the Chicago settlements do?
Settlements welcomed meetings of trade unions, ethnic groups, and civic organizations. Some established country summer camps, and a few developed their music programs into serious schools. Many exchanged information through city federations, the first of which was established by the Chicago settlements in 1894.
Why did the National Federation of Settlements start?
Although settlement residents had been admitted to the National Conference of Charities and Correction in the late 1890s, they nevertheless established a National Federation of Settlements in 1911 to coordinate their reform efforts and enhance their impact on public policy.
What was the first settlement house in Chicago?
Hull House, the first settlement house in Chicago. This is a list of settlement houses in Chicago. Settlement houses, which reached their peak popularity in the early 20th century, were marked by a residential approach to social work: the social workers ("residents") would live in the settlement house, and thus be a part ...
When did the settlements start in Chicago?
The movement began in England in 1884 but quickly spread; the first settlement house in Chicago was Hull House, founded in 1889. By 1911, Chicago's neighborhoods boasted dozens of settlement houses, but in the course of the 20th century most of these closed.
What was the impact of the Fifties and Sixties on the settlement movement?
The Fifties and Sixties brought a kaleidoscope of events which shook the country–and the settlement movement–to the core. Against the background of the undeclared war in Vietnam which created ever-mounting rage, there were intertwined movements of profound significance for low-income neighborhoods.
When did the settlement movement start?
The settlement movement began officially in the United States in 1886, with the establishment of University Settlement, New York. Settlements derived their name from the fact that the resident workers “settled” in the poor neighborhoods they sought to serve, living there as friends and neighbors.
What was the purpose of the settlement movement?
These new Americans brought with them rich cultural diversity and a sense of hope and striving which fitted in to the “American dream:’ The settlement program was geared to upward mobility and a commitment to help each struggling group to become part of the main stream. The cultural complexities of these neighborhoods also required humility on the part of the “settlers,” who had to learn before they could give, and who thought in broad social terms of community welfare rather than in moral terms of “charity” and “uplift”. The U.S. settlement movement was also characterized by the leadership of many women, who found in this type of service a fitting use of their energy and skill. Alienated themselves from a society which failed to appreciate or utilize their abilities, they found in the settlement movement an acceptable and satisfying calling. Jane Addams, Lillian Wald, Mary Simkhovitch and many others, along with notable residents like Florence Kelley and Frances Perkins, found settlement work their entry into significant national affairs.
What percentage of social workers had a masters degree in 1965?
During the Fifties a quarter of the group work graduates went into settlements: in 1965, 42% of the full-time workers had a masters’ degree in social work. This common educational background contributed to identification with the national movement.
What was the role of the residence in the 1950s?
The residence as a learning center, however, required staff leadership and later generations of executives were not willing to focus in the residence their personal as well as professional life as the pioneers had done. Without such leadership, the educational function of the residence diminished, and it was impossible to justify the large subsidies which had always been necessary. By the 1950’s the place of the residence as a central element in the program had long gone, and the word “settlement” was increasingly supplanted by “neighborhood center”.3
What did settlement workers study?
Kindergartens began there, as did experiments in trade and vocational training. Settlement workers studied housing conditions, working hours, sanitation, sweatshops, child labor, and used these studies to stimulate protective legislation.
What did the settlement movement look for in the American people?
The American settlement movement looked at all human life as precious, and saw it as interrelated–from person to family to neighborhood to city to nation. It saw the nation as indivisible and the settlements as the “distant early warning stations” which would inform the wider society of symptoms of social illness from which none would be immune. Rather than dispensing charity they were seeking the common national welfare, stressing a reciprocity between classes. This spirit was closely allied to the social gospel movement.
