PhilaPlace

College Settlement House

Where old Europe meets new America. Image provided by Historical Society of Pennsylvania

parking lot at 412 Queen St.

Founded in 1889 as a settlement house for immigrants and children, College Settlement served the neighborhood's Italians, Russian Jews, and African Americans, although the Queen Street location is most closely associated with the Jewish community. College Settlement was founded and run by reform-minded university women, and was one of many settlement houses in the city. Usually staffed by single, white, middle-class women, settlement houses provided for the social, spiritual and physical well-being of immigrants and their children. In 1905 College Settlement started a trilingual kindergarten — Italian, Yiddish and English — for the children of immigrants. They also provided shower facilities for women and children who lacked access to indoor plumbing. In 1922, College Settlement established its summer farm camp in Horsham, Pennsylvania's, where city kids could spend a few weeks off the streets and in the woods. Today College Settlement Camp continues to serve children through day camps, environmental education, and other services.

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