NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE ASSOCIATION:

The Neighborhood House Association founded and ran a settlement house and community center located on St. Paul's West Side, traditionally one of the enclaves of recent immigrants to the city. (The West Side has been home at various periods to significant populations of African-Americans, Lebanese, Syrians, Jews, Hispanics, Asians, and others.) Established in 1899 by leaders of the city's Jewish community, and reorganized in 1903 on a non-sectarian basis, Neighborhood House remained the center of community organization for the West Side. Initially located at 153 Robertson Street, it moved in 1923 to 229 East Indiana Avenue and in 1970 to 1979 East Robie Street. The Robie Street facility is called the Concord Terrace Neighborhood Center, and it houses a wide range of community organizations and services under the general management of the Neighborhood House Association. In 1980 the agency also established the Baker Community Center at 209 West Page Street, the culmination of decades of planning for better service to the upper West Side.

Neighborhood House developed and sustained many community programs. A major effort toward combating juvenile delinquency by providing recreational activities involved not only sports programs and activity clubs, but major camping programs as well. Youth camping programs began in 1919 and ran through 1985, primarily at Camp Owendingo (Carver Lake, Woodbury). Neighborhood House also administered the St. Paul Cooperative Camp Association (involving 13 agencies) for 15 years. Another important program involved child care: in 1913 the agency first organized a pre-school kindergarten with professional staff and students in training, and in 1937 a nursery school was opened to assist working mothers. Early efforts to assist immigrants in "Americanizing" gave way to the challenges of urban renewal. In 1960 the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority opened its relocation office at the agency and the House staff worked to assist individuals affected by the obliteration of a considerable portion of the West Side "flats" for the creation of Riverview Industrial Park.

Neighborhood House began many new programs that later became independent. These include Torre de San Miguel, Inc. (low-income housing), the Merriam Park Community Center, the West Side Citizens Organization (WSCO), and the West Side/West St. Paul Voice. It was an active and influential member of the St. Paul Federation of Settlement Houses and Neighborhood Centers and the Leisure Time Activities Council (coordinated by the Wilder Foundation). Major funding sources have included the Community Chest, United Fund and Council, United Way, Title XX, and individual donations.

The preceding historical sketch was taken from information in several histories of the Neighborhood House filed in box one of the collection.

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The records of the Neighborhood House Association reflect its complex of activities beginning in 1903. There are strong runs of board minutes, reports from the director and social workers, annual meeting programs, and financial records (including requests and reports to funding agencies). Less expected are the detailed minutes of staff meetings (1957-1981), the reports prepared by staff on children and adults participating in House-sponsored clubs and classes (1920s-1960s), extensive records relating to three camping operations (1938-1985), and wide ranging subject files, which capture information about a number of ephemeral West Side organizations. Records of the Currie Child Care Center are largely financial, but include some reports to funding agencies and some early (pre-1960) ephemera. Several good historical sketches of the House (the most recent from 1974) are also included.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Neighborhood House Association Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number(s): 10, 912; 11,858; 11,874; 13,211; 14,269; 15,538; 16,237

Processing Information:

Processed by: Mark Greene, March 1992; Lara D. Friedman-Shedlov, May 2000; Meagan Kellom, 2011

Catalog ID number: 990017293160104294

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West Side Voice (a weekly newspaper originally published by the Neighborhood House) is in the Minnesota Historical Society newspaper collection.

Earl D. Craig Papers are also in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

African Americans -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Aged -- Services for.

Camps -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Camps -- Photographs.

Clubs -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Day Care Centers -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Hispanic Americans -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Immigrants -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Jews -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Lebanese Americans -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Mexican Americans -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Minority youth -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Scholarships.

Social settlements -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Social settlements -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul -- Photographs.

Social surveys.

Social work with immigrants.

Social work with youth.

Syrian Americans -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Urban renewal -- Citizen participation.

Urban renewal -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Youth -- Societies and clubs.

Places:

Riverview Industrial District (Saint Paul, Minn.).

West Side Community (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Persons:

Crosby, Frederic.

Currie, Constance.

Walls, Milton G.

Organizations:

Camp Owendingo (Carver Lake, Minn.).

Concord Terrace Urban Renewal Project (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Constance Currie Child Care Center (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Greater Saint Paul Leisure Time Activities Council (Minn.).

Greater Saint Paul Community Chest and Councils.

Greater St. Paul United Fund & Council .

Housing and Redevelopment Authority of the City of Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Neighborhood House Child Care Center (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Riverview Memorial Hospital (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Saint John's Landing Camp (Hinkley, Minn.).

Saint Paul Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers (Minn.).

Saint Paul Cooperative Camp Association (Minn.).

Saint Paul (Minn.). Department of Community Services.

Torre de San Miguel Homes, Inc. (Saint Paul, Minn.).

United Way of the Saint Paul Area (Minn.).

West Side Citizen's Organization (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Types of Documents:

Building surveys.

Ephemera.

Photographs.

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