This sign is posted next to the front door to Greenwich House, 27 Barrow St.
The first settlement house was established in East London in 1884. American social reformers in all major cities quickly followed the British lead. Established in the United States during a period of heavy immigration, settlement houses fought for improved housing conditions, and provided a variety of social and educational services for the new immigrants. The houses, many staffed by progressive women, also sought to Americanize the immigrants, and prepare them for citizenship. Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch was one such reformer. At the turn of the twentieth century, along with a number of others, Simkhovtich founded Greenwich House, and became an influential voice for settlement houses on a national level.
Greenwich House opened its doors on Thanksgiving Day, 1902. Originally located at 26 Jones Street, Greenwich House moved into what had been a strongly Irish neighborhood, but was rapidly becoming more and more Italian. By 1910, Italian immigrants in the Village outnumbered Irish residents, and all other groups, by more than two to one. At this time, the West Village had the densest population in the entire United States, and the highest infant mortality rate in New York City. Greenwich House founders sought to change the latter statistic. As the infant mortality rate decreased, Greenwich House staff began to expand its focus; the number of programs offered for children beyond babyhood increased with every passing year. In 1917, Greenwich moved to nearby Barrow Street, also an Italian neighborhood. By 1920, an average of 820 children visited Greenwich House each week. That number would rise throughout the decade. Guided by efforts to increase acceses to, or improve, health, education, recreation, the arts, and civic affairs, Greenwich House created many new programs, and bettered existing ones, throughout the 1920s. This exhibit explores the origins and development of programs designed specifically for children in this time period. Throughout the course of the exhibit, two themes emerge: one, Greenwich House's attempt to draw on its idea of Italian culture in order to connect the immigrants it worked with to their homeland; and, two, the effort to symbolically Americanize the immigrant children, while giving them tangible benefits.