Lawrence House (Baltimore)

Last updated January 08, 2023

Lawrence House was an American social settlement in Baltimore, Maryland.^[1] Its beginnings were in 1893, when Rev. Dr. Edward A. Lawrence and a friend took up lodging at 214 Parkin Street.^[2] Lawrence died suddenly later in 1893, and in his memory, the Lawrence Memorial Association organized in 1894 and purchased a house at 816 West Lombard Street. The settlement incorporated in the Fall of 1900.^[3] In 1904, the place was enlarged by the addition of the adjoining house, 814 West Lombard Street.

History

The beginnings of settlement work in Baltimore were made early in 1893, when Lawrence took up lodgings with his friend, Frank Thompson, in one of the Winans tenements at 214 Parkin Street, in one of the poor districts of Baltimore. Dr. Lawrence had no idea of a settlement in the institutional sense of the term, and merely desired a sort of social retreat, where he could change his point of view from that of a leading pastor, and observe at first-hand the conditions and the people of a congested district. He died after a very brief illness, while the settlement in Baltimore was still only a small and obscure lodging on Parkin street.^[2]

In his memory, the Lawrence Memorial Association organized in 1894 and purchased a house at 816 West Lombard Street. The Association was composed of four constituent Societies having equal voice in the government of the House. These societies were: The Young Men's Christian Association of Johns Hopkins University, the Woman's College Chapter of the College Settlements Association, and the Christian Endeavor Societies of the Harlem Avenue Christian and the First Congregational Churches. The university and church societies cooperated actively in this work.^[2]

In the Fall of 1900, Lawrence House was established. A neighborhood club house, it aimed to be a center for things of interest to the people, to provide a place for amusements and social gatherings, and to furnish opportunities for instruction in any subject for which there was a demand. In cooperation with its neighbors, it aimed to work for the betterment of its particular community as well as the city.^[3]

Neighborhood

It was located in an essentially industrial neighborhood. There were many large establishments, the principal ones being the Baltimore and Ohio shops on Pratt Street, and Bartlett and Hayward's Iron Foundry. People lived in the neighborhood where they worked, so that there was a settled population, and a real neighborhood feeling. Employment was steady and conditions were fairly favorable. The people were independent in character, self-respecting, and did not need material relief. They were largely Irish and German, though Poles, Lithuanians, Italians and Jews resided there as well.^[3]

Architecture and fittings

For several years, the headquarters of the settlement activity were at 816 West Lombard Street. Within the last few months of 1904, the place was enlarged by the addition of the adjoining house, 814. During the summer, both houses were put in thorough repair, 816 having been put in order for club purposes and the newer acquisition having been fitted up and furnished as a home for the residents.^[4]

Activities

Lawrence House conducted investigations into different aspects of neighborhood life and conditions. It organized the Lawrence House Improvement Association, which published The Budget, a monthly neighborhood news sheet, for three years. The association was active in promoting the interests of the neighborhood. It cooperated in the work of the state Child Labor Committee, Consumers' League, Tenement House Commission, Trade School Committee, Playground Association and Tuberculosis Association.^[3]

The settlement maintained a library; kindergarten; playground; gymnasium; classes in chair caning, bent iron work, knife work, carpentry, drawing, athletics, embroidery, knitting, crocheting, cooking, millinery, clay modeling, arts and crafts; clubs with various interests, dramatic, debating, parliamentary drill, citizenship, story telling; game and pool rooms; dances; entertainments, concerts and lectures; and mothers' club. Summer work included a roof and backyard playground.^[3]

People

In 1911, there were six women residents, 30 women volunteers, and six men volunteers. Head residents included, Emma G. Salisbury (Fall 1900 - June 1901); Alice E. Robbins (October 1902 - September 1908); Grace O. Edwards (Fall 1908 - June 1909); Elizabeth C. Bailey (September 1909 - September 1910; Josephine Hawks (Fall 1910 -).^[3]

Related Research Articles

Poppleton is a neighborhood in west Baltimore, Maryland. The neighborhood is bounded on the north by West Mulberry Street, on the south by West Baltimore Street, on the west by North Carey Street, and on the east by the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Previously, Poppleton was construed in a broader sense extending further south to West Pratt Street or Lombard Street, but today this area is commonly described as the separate neighborhood of Hollins Market.

Sadie American was a Jewish-American activist, social worker, activist, and "Chicago's pioneer of visual sociology".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's Health Protective Association</span> US womens organization for public health

Women's Health Protective Association was a US women's organization focused on improving a city's public health and protecting the immediate neighborhood. It was founded in New York City in November 1884 as the Ladies' Health Protective Association.

Florence V. Brittingham was an American poet and short story writer. She met with some success in writing for various periodicals, though she was quite occupied with helping her husband in his pastoral work and the pressing duties of home life to focus on her literary efforts. Verse and Story (1892), published after her death, contained some of her poems and six short stories. At St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Wheeling, West Virginia, she founded a Woman's Auxiliary organization, the first of its kind in the city.

The College Settlements Association (CSA) was an American organization founded during the settlement movement era which provided support and control of college settlements for women. Organized February 1890, it was incorporated on January 5, 1894. The settlement houses were established by college women, were controlled by college women, and had a majority of college women as residents. The CSA was devised to unite college women in the trend of a modern movement, to touch them with a common sympathy, and to inspire them with a common ideal. It was believed that young students should be quickened in their years of vague aspiration and purely speculative energy by possessing a share in this broad practical work.

Settlement and community houses in the United States were a vital part of the settlement movement, a progressive social movement that began in the mid-19th century in London with the intention of improving the quality of life in poor urban areas through education initiatives, food and shelter provisions, and assimilation and naturalization assistance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rivington Street Settlement</span>

Rivington Street Settlement was an American settlement house which provided educational and social services on the Lower East Side of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York. Under the auspices of the College Settlements Association (CSA), it focused on the mostly immigrant population of the neighborhood. Originally located at 95 Rivington Street (1889-), other locations later included 96 Rivington Street (1892-1901), 188 Ludlow Street (1902–), 84-86 First Street (1907-), and Summer Home, Mount Ivy, New York (1900-). The Rivington Street Settlement was established by college women, was controlled by college women, and had a majority of college women as residents. The Rivington Street Settlement was a kind of graduate school in economics and sociology, with practical lessons in a tenement–house district - a kind of sociological laboratory.

Jean Gurney Fine Spahr was an American social reformer. A pioneer in the U.S. settlement movement, she was a co-founder and officer of the College Settlements Association (CSA), and the head of the Rivington Street Settlement in New York City.

College Settlement of Philadelphia is an American outdoor camp and school located in Horsham, Pennsylvania. Established in 1892, it was originally associated with the settlement movement under the auspices of the College Settlements Association (CSA) to provide educational and social services in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, focusing on the mostly immigrant population of the neighborhood it served, and providing a home to the children and young people of the neighborhood.

Casa de Castelar was an American settlement in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in February 1894, during the settlement movement era, by a local branch of the College Settlements Association called the Los Angeles Settlement Association (LASA). Casa de Castelar was the first settlement house in the city, and the first settlement house west of the Mississippi River.

Goodrich Social Settlement was the second settlement house in Cleveland, Ohio, after Hiram House. It organized on December 9, 1896, incorporated May 15, 1897, and opened May 20, 1897 at Bond St. and St. Clair Ave. It was established by Flora Stone Mather as an outgrowth of a boys' club and women's guild conducted by the First Presbyterian Church. Its aims were “to provide a center for such activities as are commonly associated with Christian social settlement work". It was maintained by an endowment. The Goodrich House Farm, in Euclid Point, Ohio, was part of the settlement.

University of Chicago Settlement was a settlement of the University of Chicago. It was established January, 1894, by the Philanthropic Committee of the Christian Union of the University of Chicago. Initially, two graduate students were in residence "to provide a center for educational, religious and philanthropic work." Mary McDowell became head resident September 15, 1894.

Neighborhood House was an American settlement house in Chicago, Illinois. It was opened in October 1896, by Samuel S. and Harriet M. Van Der Vaart, under the auspices of the Young People's Society of the Universalist Church, of Englewood, Chicago, and with the assistance of teachers of the Perkins, Bass, and D. S. Wentworth public schools. It was officially established in the Fall of 1897 by Harriet Van Der Vaart as the outgrowth of the kindergarten opened the year before "to bring together for mutual benefit people of different classes and conditions."

Neighborhood House is an American community center located in Louisville, Kentucky. Founded in 1896, as North Broadway Social Settlement it was renamed Neighborhood House in 1902, when it incorporated.

Whittier House was an American social settlement, situated in the midst of the densely populated Paulus Hook district of Jersey City, New Jersey. Christian, but non-denominational, its aims were to help all in need by improving their circumstances, by inspiring them with new motives and higher ideals, and by making them better fitted by the responsibilities and privileges of life. It cooperated with all who were seeking to ameliorate the human condition and improve the social order. It opened in the People's Palace, December 20, 1893. On May 14, 1894, it incorporated and moved to 174 Grand Street.

Civic Service House was an American social settlement and a school for citizenship, located at 110-112 Salem Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Established October, 1901, by Pauline Agassiz Shaw as a center for civic education, recreation, and organization for the common good. The house set out to do specialized settlement work along civic lines, and purposed to reach a constituency approaching or within the privileges of citizenship. The character of work was that with adult immigrants, in clubs, classes, lectures and civic committees. The constituency included Jews, Italians, Poles and Irish. Improvement clubs, educational classes for men and women, occasional concerts and recreational features were available, but these were subordinate to the effort for civic betterment. Children's work was not included, and social features were made incidental to a program of study and service.

Edward A. Lawrence, Jr. was a Protestant pastor and author. He lectured on foreign missions, at Andover, Beloit and New Haven. He was the namesake of Lawrence House Baltimore, a settlement he opened in 1893, months before his death.

Lowell House was an American social settlement, the first in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1900, it formed an association in 1903.

South Park Settlement was an American settlement movement-era settlement established in the South Park neighborhood of San Francisco, California on January 2, 1895, by the San Francisco Settlement Association. It was founded in one of the crowded districts of San Francisco. The pretty little oval park on which the Settlement House faces was formerly the fashionable residence district of the city. But within a few blocks on either side of South Park were many little streets, whose crowded tenements furnished homes for less prosperous working people. Its goals were to establish and maintain a settlement in San Francisco as a residence for persons interested in the social and moral condition of its neighborhood; to bring into friendly and helpful relations with one another the people of the neighborhood in which the settlement was situated; to cooperate with church, educational, charitable and labor organizations, and with other agencies acting for the improvement of social conditions; to serve as a medium among the different social elements of the city for bringing about a more intelligent and systematic understanding of their mutual obligations; as well as to do social and educational work in the neighborhood; co-operate in the civic work of the city; and investigate social and economic conditions.

Amity Church Settlement was an American settlement house founded in 1896 and auxiliary to Amity Baptist Church. It was located at 314 West 54th Street in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York. Its purpose included the religious and social well-being of the neighborhood. Services included educational classes, lectures, and poor relief. The director was Rev. Leighton Williams, Pastor. The undenominational spirit and able management of the House attracted confidence and financial assistance from outside Baptist lines. Its basal function was that of establishing residence in the crowded neighborhood where its work lay and bringing to bear upon the labor in hand the influence of the home. It sought to unite the idea of the Church and of the social settlement. The settlement was unincorporated, and was maintained by Amity Baptist Church and by voluntary contributions. The work was classified as (1) religious, including the various church services; (2) educational, including kindergarten, industrial school, evening classes, public lectures under the board of education; (3) medical, including dispensary and nursing work; (4) social, including Workingmen's Institute, social clubs and entertainments; (5) relief work; and (6) neighborhood work, including visitation and all work outside of the building, as well as promotion of neighborhood interests.

References

↑ Lawrence House: 814 and 816 West Lombard Street, Baltimore (Public domain ed.). Lawrence Memorial Association. 1905. Retrieved 27 April 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
1 2 3 Gavit, John Palmer (1897). Bibliography of College, Social and Universety Settlements (Public domain ed.). Co-operative Press. p. 24. Retrieved 27 April 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
1 2 3 4 5 6 Woods, Robert Archey; Kennedy, Albert Joseph (1911). Handbook of Settlements (Public domain ed.). Charities Publication Committee. pp. 100–01. Retrieved 27 April 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
↑ Gavit, John Palmer (December 1904). "LAWRENCE HOUSE, BALTIMORE". The Commons: 628. Retrieved 27 April 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

Coordinates: 39°17′14″N76°37′43″W / 39.28716°N 76.62868°W / 39.28716; -76.62868

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Lawrence-1905-1] Lawrence House: 814 and 816 West Lombard Street, Baltimore (Public domain ed.). Lawrence Memorial Association. 1905. Retrieved 27 April 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

[Gavit-1897-2] 1 2 3 Gavit, John Palmer (1897). Bibliography of College, Social and Universety Settlements (Public domain ed.). Co-operative Press. p. 24. Retrieved 27 April 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

[WoodKennedy-1911-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Woods, Robert Archey; Kennedy, Albert Joseph (1911). Handbook of Settlements (Public domain ed.). Charities Publication Committee. pp. 100–01. Retrieved 27 April 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

[TheCommons-1904-4] Gavit, John Palmer (December 1904). "LAWRENCE HOUSE, BALTIMORE". The Commons: 628. Retrieved 27 April 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]