East Side House records, 1851-1992

Social settlement founded in 1891 by Everett P. Wheeler and other members of the Church Club of the City of New York on Manhattan's East Side. Moved to the Bronx in 1963.

During the late 1800s the upper east side of Manhattan experienced a dramatic increase in population and economic activity. Thousands of working class families -- predominantly Irish but also including Germans, Bohemians and Italians moved into tenement buildings and worked for local businesses and industries. These new residents formed a vital community establishing churches benevolent societies and fraternal organizations. But the dense concentration of population also gave rise to a host of urban problems poor housing inadequate health care lack of educational opportunities and crime.

It was just such an increase in the social problems attending urban growth that led reformers and philanthropists in England to establish Toynbee Hall the first settlement house in 1884. The settlement model originally distinguished by a commitment on the part of its educated upper and middle-class volunteers to settle in working class communities in order to understand their problems first-hand was imported to the United States in 1886 when Neighborhood Guild was established on New York's lower east side. American settlement houses were in the vanguard of efforts to educate and provide social services for impoverished residents in their neighborhoods through programs such as kindergartens day care hot lunches health clinics visiting nurses camps playgrounds and arts education. In addition the settlements were deeply involved in Progressive-era reform movements advocating improvements in housing public health and sanitation. In 1890 five members of New York's Church Club recommended That this Club undertake a work in the Tenth Ward on the general plan. of Toynbee Hall. Under the leadership of the prominent lawyer and civic reformer Everett P. Wheeler the club founded East Side House in 1891. Wheeler was a founder of the New York Bar Association and served for 17 years as chairman of the executive committee of the New York Civil Service Reform Association. He was also a supporter of the Citizen's Union the Committee of Seventy and the Reform Club. Born in 1840 Wheeler came into the settlement movement relatively late in his career.

A house on East 76th Street at the foot of the East River was rented and outfitted with reading rooms a gymnasium a billiard room and club meeting rooms. The first group of neighborhood residents to utilize the settlement a men's club began meeting in June of 1891. Children's programs a day nursery and women's clubs were added soon after. In 1893 the New York Free Circulating Library contributed books to East Side House and Mr. C. B. Webster funded construction of a settlement library building. In 1904 this library joined the New York Public Library system as its Webster Branch. During the same period East Side House lobbied city government to establish a park on an empty lot in the area resulting in the creation of John Jay Park

In 1902 after several years of fundraising a new settlement building was erected to house programs which included a day nursery music school lectures concerts clubs and classes. To provide swimming and fishing for neighborhood children a section of the East River bank in front of the building was fenced in. At about the same time board member J. P. Morgan agreed to let East Side House use a portion of his estate for summer camping activities. By July 1904 the settlement was able to obtain its own summer camp on Lake Popolopen in Highland Falls-on-the-Hudson New York. Unfortunately this was not a permanent arrangement and for several years the camp site moved from place to place. In 1910 thanks to a generous donation by Mr. and Mrs. William Read a permanent summer home was found at the Stepney Farm in Connecticut.

During the late 1920s rising real estate values and increased rents drove many lower income families away from the upper east side causing the East Side House Board of Managers to debate whether there remained a need for settlement work there. The death of Everett P. Wheeler in 1925 and the subsequent resignation of other board members may have contributed to a 1929 decision to discontinue all programs except the day nursery and to sell the building. But the stock market crash caused the buyer of the property to cancel the agreement and the onset of the depression compelled neighborhood residents to plead for the continuation of settlement programs. Because of the period of inactivity the board and various committees had dwindled in size and the facilities suffered from neglect. Headworker Rosa Gregor and her assistant Kathleen Wegge aided by program staff paid by the W. P. A. kept East Side House open through tireless effort.

By the end of the decade the settlement had recruited new board members recovered financially and expanded its programs modestly. In 1937 the Camp Committee was even able to purchase new property to accommodate more children. During World War II the nursery became associated with the Mayor' Committee for the Wartime Care of Children enabling it to increase its services. In addition a fundraising committee was organized to increase the number of contributors.

During the 1950s the demographics of the East Side House neighborhood changed again with an increase in middle and upper income families. Settlement attendance fell off from year to year and in 1961 the board decided to move the settlement to a new community where it perceived that the agency's services would be more vital. The South Bronx was chosen and in 1963 East Side House opened new administrative offices on Alexander Avenue. The settlement's new community was largely African-American and Puerto Rican and many lived in nearby public housing projects. Working with the New York City Housing Authority East Side House established program facilities in several NYCHA buildings. Programs included senior citizen activities summer camp recreation and athletics day nursery and homemaking instruction. During the next 30 years East Side House steadily expanded its programs as the South Bronx entered into a period of increasing poverty drug addiction and crime. Today the settlement provides services to more than 10 000 South Bronx residents each year. Head Start day care teen employment and education athletics and clubs and meals for senior citizens are a few of the programs sponsored.