Neighborhood House Association (Saint Paul, Minn.)

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.

From the guide to the Association records., 1903-2001., (Minnesota Historical Society)