Lenox Hill Neighborhood House was founded in 1894 by the Alumnae Association of Normal College (now known as Hunter College of the City University of New York) as a free kindergarten for the children of indigent immigrants. Since then, we have remained at the forefront of community advocacy and social and educational change.

Lawrence House: A 1905 Booklet Depicting Activities of a Settlement House in Baltimore, MD.

These entries about Lawrence House and Warner House are taken from the “Handbook of Settlements,” a national survey of settlements published in 1911 by The Russell Sage Foundation of New York. This collection of detailed information about settlements throughout the nation and operating circa 1910 was collected, organized and written by two settlement pioneers: Robert Archey Woods and Albert J. Kennedy.

“Hull-House endeavors to make social intercourse express the growing sense of the economic unity of society and may be described as an effort to add the social function to democracy.”

This description of the University Settlement in 1910-1911 is from the Handbook of Settlements and was written by two settlement house pioneers: Robert Archey Woods and Albert J. Kennedy. The book included the findings of a national survey of all the known settlements in existence in 1910.

“A settlement aims to get things done for a given neighborhood. It proposes to be the guardian of that neighborhood’s interests, and through identification of the interests of the settlement group with local interests, it forms a steadying and permanent element in a community which is more or less wavering and influx.”

“Since 1895, Union Settlement has served the people of East Harlem. We believe the key to our endurance lies in our adaptability. East Harlem has long been a portal community whose population shifts with each new trend in immigration…”

Written by John E. Hansan, Ph.D. “The Hudson Guild is a community-based social services organization rooted in and primarily focused on the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.”

Written by John E. Hansan, Ph.D. “The house is designed to stand for the single idea of resident study and work in the neighborhood where it may be located. . . . The whole aim and motive is religious, but the method is educational rather than evangelistic. A second, though hardly secondary, object….will be to create a center, for those within reach, of social study, discussion, and organization.”