Lillian Wald (1868-1940) was born into a privileged family in Cincinnati, Ohio, and moved to Manhattan to attend the New York Hospital School of Nursing from 1889 to 91. She founded the Henry Street Settlement House in 1893 and, by 1906, had 27 nurses working with her. In 1916, she had 250 nurses serving 1,300 patients a day. Witnessing the poverty and hardship endured by immigrants on the Lower East Side drove her into action. The Settlement offered English language instruction, music lessons, and recreational activities. By 1913, Lillian Wald’s Henry Street Settlement had grown to seven buildings on Henry Street and two satellite centers, serving 3,000 members and making 200,000 visits yearly. Settlement Houses were unique in that most of their workers lived within the community they served, so their lives became interconnected.
The Progressive Era (approximately 1880-1930) was a social, economic, and political reform period. Living among the poor became familiar to Wald’s generation. In the years after the Civil War, new women’s colleges opened, and older universities also began admitting women. In 1900, women comprised 36 percent of the nation’s undergrads and 13 percent of graduate students. However, many professional opportunities remained closed to them. Settlement work provided jobs for college-educated women to engage in work they found meaningful.
Women became the dominant force behind the settlement movement in the United States. Settlements became central to reshaping public policy toward poor families. By 1908, there were over 100 settlements across the United States, with 19 in New York City.
Besides offering a wide range of services under one roof, settlement workers led movements for child labor laws, public playgrounds, housing regulations, and public aid to widowed mothers. The settlement movement achieved national influence during the Great Depression, but the deepening depression forced nearly half to close by the 1930s.