Whittier House Social Settlement (Jersey City, N.J.)

Whittier House Social Settlement in Jersey City (Essex County), the first settlement house in New Jersey, was founded by Cornelia Foster Bradford (1847-1935) in 1894. Whittier House workers, including social reformer Mary Philbrook, maintained residence in the settlement house, developing programs based on the specific needs of the largely immigrant Jersey City community. Programs included the city's first free kindergarten, legal assistance for the poor, a circulating library, a medical dispensary, a milk dispensary, and a diet kitchen for mothers and babies.

Whittier House also provided the only public playground in the city, a gymnasium, and a summer camp in Pomona, N.Y. Among the clubs and classes offered were sewing, drama, debating, English, elocution and dance, as well as groups for mothers, newsboys and young citizens.

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