1929 NE 2nd St
Minneapolis, MN 55418, USA

North East Neighborhood House ( East Side Neighborhood Service Inc.) - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:

I. Introduction
The North East Neighborhood House (NENH) in Northeast Minneapolis is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A for its local significance in the area of social history. The property reflects the historical patterns identified by the Minnesota historic context "Urban Centers, 1870-1940." Constructed in 1919, the NENH served both as a portal into American society for newly arriving immigrants from Eastern Europe and as advocate for the neighborhoods underprivileged. It is a notable example of a social institution created solely for the betterment of the disadvantaged.

II. Settlement Houses Defined
Settlement houses were managed and staffed by socially minded individuals dedicated to the betterment of the less fortunate. The institutions were often funded by philanthropists who wished to give back to society some part of their success. Sometimes religious organizations also sponsored settlement houses. The houses were established in socially troubled neighborhoods in urban centers across the country. The mission for the staff of the settlement houses was simple: improve the lives of the people living in the neighborhood. The houses did this in a variety of ways. Tutoring immigrants in the English language and American culture was common to all of them. Providing advice, financial aid, or just an obliging ear were also trademarks of the staff at the settlement houses. The institutions often served as daycare centers for busy parents, and offered activities for restless teens. Neighborhood meetings, voter registrations, draft registrations, and much more took place in the settlement houses. Adaptability was extremely important. Management at any settlement house needed to be able to change with an evolving neighborhood.
Although some settlement houses were funded by religious organizations, a secular philosophy was at the core of the movement. In the late 1800s and early 1900s this was a novel approach to social welfare. Traditionally, religious groups cared for the disadvantaged while also providing a helping of moral instruction. The settlement aim, however, was to offer a needed hand without any pious obligations. Certainly, promoters of this creed did not always succeed. In fact, moralistic principles frequently influenced the judgement of settlement house benefactors and staff. Even so, it was never a base policy of the settlement movement to advocate morality in return for services. Another trait common to the movement was a belief that the house should be located within the neighborhood that it served. This seems commonsensical today, but was not so apparent around the turn of the century, well before Franklin Roosevelt and his "New Deal.” A more unique characteristic of the movement was the profound belief that those dedicating their lives in service to the less fortunate should be required to "settle" within the confines of the house. The staff thus found themselves living among the people they had pledged to help.

III. The Origins of the Settlement House Movement
To understand the history of the NENH it is useful to briefly review the beginnings of the settlement house movement in America. The movement started in this country in 188 6. That was the year philosopher Stanton Coit opened Neighborhood Guild on New York's Lower East Side. The facility was established in a neighborhood chiefly comprised of Jewish immigrant families. In the late 1800s, Coat was probably as qualified as anyone in America to open and manage a facility dedicated to the social betterment of the lower classes. While a graduate student at Columbia University he made his residence in New York's slums. He then moved to Europe for a time, earning his Ph.D. from the University of Berlin and, more importantly, spending three months as a resident at London's Toynbee Hall, the world's first settlement house. Coat and other like-minded college educated individuals set up residence in Neighborhood Guild and invited the neighbors to visit and experience some of the social services the organization offered. Realizing that the Protestant background of the settlement house's workers could be a barrier to helping the local people, Coit chose to emphasize the secular nature of Neighborhood Guild. This approach proved popular. Coit, however, wanted to do more than simply provide social services. He also wanted to empower the underclass to agitate for social reform. His plan was not as successful as he had hoped. Disenchanted, he left the country and became a minister in England. With the loss of its founder Neighborhood Guild was on the verge of collapse. Two of Coit's associates, Charles B. Stover and Edward King, stepped in and rescued the settlement house, reorganizing it as University Settlement. University Settlement would become one of the more prominent settlement houses in the country. Although Coit eventually abandoned his settlement house to minister overseas, his foresight triggered a social movement in this country that would continue throughout the next century.

IV. The Roots of a Settlement House in Northeast
The origin of the NENH is found in Immanuel Sunday School. Plymouth Church, a congregational church that still exists in Minneapolis today, opened the mission about 1881 at the intersection of Second Street Northeast and Broadway Street. The services offered at the mission were widely used by neighborhood citizens and it eventually became apparent to management that they would require a larger facility. The church replaced the original building with a more spacious structure in the late 1890s. The new frame building, christened Drummond Hall, cost $4,500 to construct. It was located at the corner of Second Street Northeast and Fifteenth Avenue. Although occupied by October 15, 1899, the building was not officially dedicated until two weeks later. Now with more available space for community activities the church expanded its curriculum, including industrial education, gymnastics, and clubs for boys and mothers.
V. The North East Neighborhood House
By 1910, the demographics in Northeast had significantly changed. Children of the earlier French, German, and Scandinavian immigrant population were moving out of the neighborhood. They were replaced with newcomers from Eastern Europe. The community's new citizens still required social services, but their religious doctrine was rooted in Catholicism. Unwilling to accept the Protestant ministrations of Drummond Hall, attendance at the facility faltered. Drummond Hall closed its doors in 1913. That same year the directors of Plymouth Church initiated a survey of Northeast that was designed to aid them in formulating a plan for serving the evolving ethnicity of the community. The study concluded that Northeast required a large social facility to help acquaint newly arrived immigrants with American cultural norms. Educational, health care, and recreational services were also viewed as extremely important. The principal point of the study, however, was neighborhood unity. Antipathies between the various ethnic groups impeded the development of the community as a whole. In 1915, the directors of Plymouth Church reopened Drummond Hall as the NENH. Its mission was to provide nonsectarian social services, and to strive to unite a neighborhood divided by nationality and religion. The directors tapped Robbins Gilman to lead the charge. Robbins and Catherine Cooke Gilman would guide the NENH for the next thirty-four years.

Catherine Cooke Gilman, wife and partner to NENH Head Worker Robbins Gilman, later wrote: The situation demanded neutral leadership by a group entirely disassociated with any nationality dominant in the area. The finger of destiny pointed to the North East Neighborhood House which functioned on a non-partisan basis, with but one purpose, that of helping all of the people to help themselves to the social, civic and economic opportunities available to them on an equal basis.

Robbins Gilman had made a name for himself in the East as a social reformer. He was the head worker of New York's University Settlement. He upset his benefactors at the institution by publicly defending the International Workers of the World (IWW) and was discharged. By the mid-1910s, the directors of Plymouth Church were seeking an experienced settlement house head worker and Gilman was available.

Gilman was born in the city of New York in 1878. He came from a New England middle-class family that traced its American heritage to 1638. His father was an investment banker, which probably influenced his initial career choice. His mother was a Pennsylvania Quaker, which probably influenced his ultimate career path. As a youth he attended Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, a prestigious preparatory school for boys. He later graduated with a B.A. degree from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He then attended New York University where he received a B.S.C. degree. He did not immediately choose social work as his vocation, opting instead to follow a business career as a banker. Gilman did, however, pursue social work as an avocation, eventually becoming president of the Westchester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. His passion for social work finally overcame his business ambitions and he decided to dedicate his career to the improvement of others. On Labor Day 1914, he found himself in Northeast Minneapolis overseeing the remodeling of Drummond Hall, a building that would soon reopen as the NENH. When NENH began operation on January 20, 1915, it was one of four settlement houses in the city. It served the northeast section of

Minneapolis, while the Pillsbury House provided charitable help to the city's southern area. Wells Memorial served the needy in central Minneapolis and Unity House did likewise for the people of North Minneapolis. The NENH had an auspicious beginning. It offered several classes for children and teens, including, sewing, cooking, carpentry, and dancing. By 5:30 in the evening of the first day of operation the staff had registered 246 neighborhood children for settlement house activities. One of the first acts of the settlement house management was the creation of "young people's rooms." Providing an area where the neighborhood's young people could come together to socialize in a secure and properly supervised setting was a new concept to the settlement movement. It was the brainchild of Catherine Cooke Gilman who believed that such a program would help alleviate juvenile delinquency.

Like Robbins Gilman, Catheryne Cooke Gilman was from a middle-class family. She was college educated and had a strong desire to help the lower classes. She met Robbins Gilman when he was the head of University Settlement and she was the facility's supervisor of girls. They married on December 1914, and together became a formidable team of reformers. While Robbins would become well known as the face of the North East Neighborhood House, Catheryne appears to have gained notoriety for her work outside the neighborhood house. She served as executive secretary of the Women's Cooperative Alliance, and would remain with the organization for the seventeen years of its existence. According to Elizabeth Gilman, granddaughter of Catheryne and Robbins, "the Co-operative Committee provided Catheryne with a more satisfactory vehicle through which to work than did classes and clubs at the Neighborhood House." And while Catheryne garnered much of her social philosophy from the settlement movement, the Women's Alliance "was in no sense a settlement

Initially, Northeast's new settlement house served mainly as a recreational center for younger people. The house's auditorium, for example, was in great demand, since it was one of the few spots in the community where teens could dance. Robbins Gilman had grander plans, though, but he needed help. He petitioned the directors for two staffers and was granted permission to hire a supervisor for boys and a supervisor for girls. With this added assistance Gilman could concentrate on broadening the services of the settlement house. He began by creating a department dedicated to finding employment for women. Naturally, mothers who wanted to work, and in many instances needed to work, had to find someone to care for their children. A Day Nursery was thus created in the settlement house. Both programs proved extremely popular. Within three years of beginning the employment program, the settlement house had found approximately 7,100 jobs for local women. “Gilman also realized that many of the children at the nursery needed dental care but their parents could not afford the expense. In June 1918, he created a dental clinic at the settlement house.

As services continued to increase at the settlement house so did the demands on the facility and its staff. Gilman sometimes implied in his monthly reports to the board of the need for further help and more room. In his January 1917 report he noted that "each of the staff is working from 12 to 16 hours a day, under the most trying conditions, due to the small number of workers and the lack of space." The board was not entirely unresponsive to Gilman's desire for more staff. The crew at the nursery, for example, grew from one to six in only nine weeks. But, as with any social charity, money for services is frequently difficult to appropriate, and oftentimes desires must be checked. This reality sometimes led to a battle of wills between the head worker and the directors. The tension between the two seemed to peak over the subject of a new building for the NENH.

For some time both Gilman and the board of directors realized that the popularity of the programs at the settlement house placed a significant strain on Drummond Hall. A larger structure was definitely required. In fact, plans for a new building were initiated not long after Drummond Hall reopened, and $25,000 was raised for its construction. For some reason, though, the undertaking stalled. In June 1918, the head worker decided to force the issue of a new building in his monthly report:
Looking at the North East Neighborhood House over a period of 3% years, since its organization, and especially over the last two years, I feel that an impartial observer would say that those who have been paid to do the work have made good. As the one whom you placed in supreme charge of the work, I feel more than satisfied with the results accomplished. If I should leave at this time to take up work elsewhere, I could do so with a clear conscience and with the feeling that during the 3% years of its life it had proved without fear of being disproved that a social settlement had not only been started in North East Minneapolis but that the need for one had been abundantly substantiated. I am very strongly of the opinion that the board does not fully appreciate either the amount of work accomplished in the last 3% years or the amount of work actually being done at the present. A full appreciation of both those points it seems to me would never have permitted the starting of the new building to lag so piteously Without being open to the charge of being too sensitive, I cannot help but feel that there must be something personal in all this procrastination. Therefore, I am constrained to say now that if any board member feels that it would be wiser not to build the new building while I am head resident, my resignation is before you to take effect at your pleasure. I am so deeply conscious of the need for the settlement that I dislike to think that I may be standing in the path of its progress. What other reason can there be than a personal one? Whether Gilman was serious in his threat to abandon the settlement to others is uncertain. The board must have thought so because they quickly fell in line with their support. The new NENH was under construction by the end of the year.
VI. A New Building
The board chose to erect the new building five blocks north of Drummond Hall at the intersection of Second Street Northeast and Twentieth Avenue. A survey of Northeast Minneapolis convinced settlement house management that the site was impartially located, within modest reach of most families requiring its services, and not favoring one ethnicity over another. Moreover, the site was just across Second Street Northeast from thirty-two-acre Bottineau Field, a recreational area created by the Minneapolis Park Board that was a major attraction for area children. The design for the new building came from the prominent architectural firm of Kenyon and Maine, Minneapolis. William Kenyon was born in Hudson Falls, New York. He graduated from Boston Arts Normal School in 1884. Within two years of leaving school, he was chief draftsman at the Kansas City office of van Brunt and Howe, a Boston architectural firm. By 1893 he had moved to Minneapolis and set up a private practice. He became well known as a residential architect specializing in the neo-Georgian style, designing more than seventy houses by the 1910s, including the John and Minnie Gluek House. In 1912 he formed a partnership with Maurice Maine,
a graduate of Hamline University. The duo designed numerous structures including Abbot Hospital in Minneapolis; a blacksmith shop for the Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad, also in Minneapolis; and a depot in Thief River Falls, again for the Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad. The enterprise relied on the neo-Georgian style for many of its designs, with brick becoming their preferred building material. The partnership between Kenyon and Maine dissolved in 1920.”

With its hipped roof and the rigid symmetry of its front facade, the design of the new NENH reflected Kenyon and Maine's neoGeorgian roots. It was comprised of two parts, a main section and a north wing. Fronting Second Avenue Northeast, the brick, threestory main section measured seventy feet by forty-one feet. The settlement's living quarters were located in this section. The head worker's office, as well as some rooms set aside for community patrons, also comprised this part of the building. The north wing was over eighty feet long and more than forty feet wide. It paralleled Twentieth Avenue and held a large kindergarten and stage area. The nursery and its corresponding facilities occupied much of the second floor.

The staff of the NENH moved into the new building in late August 1919, although office desks, library tables, chairs, laundry equipment, kitchen utensils, lockers, rugs, and other furnishings had not yet arrived. Staff was also waiting for the delivery of plumbing fixtures and cabinets. Even with these headaches Gilman could hardly contain his excitement over the new building:

All inconveniences, delays, non-deliveries and mistakes of whatever kind, were joyously, I might say rapturously, overlooked because we were in one of our dreams, the largest one. [The new settlement house] had been realized after 4 years of planning, 3 years of waiting and 9 months of construction.

The settlement house was formally dedicated in November. Gilman invited a local community organization to attend. The secretary for the Northeast Improvement Association responded to his offer warmly: "You little realize with what great appreciation we accept your kind offer. ... We shall show our appreciation by turning out in full numbers.” A neighborhood crowd numbering more than six hundred showed up to make merry. The community was understandably exited, as one celebrant exclaimed:” Just think, this place is ours!" The celebration included talks by Robbins Gilman and D. H. Olson, president of the Northeast Improvement Association. Children from both Schiller School and Sheridan School performed dance and musical numbers.

Later, at the annual meeting of the board of directors for the settlement house, the president reviewed the accomplishments made in 1919, noting that the new building was erected at a cost of $80,000, including the expense for the land. All of these funds were obtained through donations. The chief contributors were Kate

Koon Bovey and her husband Charles, although Charles would learn of his financial generosity only after his wife informed him that she had made him a donor. Kate Koon Bovey would become a major benefactor for the settlement house throughout much of her life. Charles Bovey was managing the Washburn Crosby Company at the time the new settlement house was built. After the board's president finished speaking it was Gilman's turn. He informed the board that the settlement house was in "active touch" with 1,233 families in the neighborhood. It was obvious from the various statistics provided by the head worker that the new building was going to be well used. The nursery at the old facility, for example, had over 6,500 attendees during 1919, while the kindergarten had more than 3,000. The infant welfare clinic attended to 1,434 children, and the dental clinic saw 585 patients. Attendance in other departments was also significant.

Prior to erecting the new building management had already decided to maintain Drummond Hall for use by the department for men and boys. The annual attendance in this department by 1919 was an impressive 18,000. With no other departments to fill space at the hall the facility was thought adequate for this purpose. But in less than a decade it would become clear that continued use of Drummond Hall just would not work.

VII. Expansion
By the mid-1920s Drummond Hall was past its prime and unable to handle growing use. The building was slowly falling apart and it was no longer being used in a means compatible with its original design. Its use as a sports venue was stifling, since no adequate ventilation existed. The plumbing was in poor condition and no lockers were available. Gilman began advocating for expansion in June 1925, to help convince the board of the need for an addition, Gilman called on a young man who grew up around Drummond Hall and intimately understood its deficiencies. Courteous and thankful for all the board had done for the neighborhood over the years, the young man nevertheless attacked the decaying and antiquated condition of Drummond Hall:
The showers in the old building are poor and almost unsanitary due to a bad drainage system. The plaster is falling down in many places and every time it rains the roof leaks and leaves large circles in the walls. The ventilation, which is an important factor in gym and athletic work, had been overlooked when the building was remodeled, and no fresh air gets into the building, especially in the basement except by opening the windows, and that is almost impossible in the winter when the snow and ice freeze them up till spring. The old building is also a firetrap. What an awful catastrophe and panic would result if that wooden structure ever caught on fire some day when the gym and club rooms are taxed to the limit as they are during the winter, as there is only one exit that is used. “
Valid points indeed, but the young man bolstered his argument with a familial appeal:
This institution could be compared with a good family. The sisters, the girl's department of the North East Neighborhood House is staying at home with the folks as it were. By that I mean they are right under the same wing with Mr. Gilman and the main part of the building. The brothers, the men's department of the North East Neighborhood House are not staying home and are not as well off as their sisters the girls, and would appreciate beyond words if they could be united with the rest of the family into one large, strong institution.
The entreaty was later privately printed and distributed under the heading "The Need for a New Wing at North East Neighborhood House to Adequately Provide for the Men's and Boy's Work." Although it is doubtful that this was Gilman's only attempt at convincing the board to build an addition, it must have been one of his strongest.

It is uncertain when the board offered its approval, but less than two years later construction on two new wings was underway. Pike and Cook Company, Builders and Engineers, Minneapolis, received the contract. Costs for the addition were estimated at $65,000, although the final expense was closer to $57,000. The money was obtained through private subscription. A little more than a month after work began the board sold Drummond Hall for $4,500. Drummond Hall continues to stand today, although it has undergone significant change.

The plan for the addition called for a brick, two-story, thirty-three- by seventy-two-foot dormitory contiguous with the south wall of the main section of the 1919 structure. A brick, fifty-five- by ninety-four-foot gymnasium was designed perpendicular to the dormitory. Construction moved quickly and the wings were completed by September 1927. The architectural style of the wings and the pigmentation of the brick used in construction created an addition that hardly looked like an addition. The gymnastics measured twenty feet from floor to ceiling. A mezzanine edged the floor on three sides. The west section of the mezzanine served as a walkway while the north and south ends provided seating room for spectators. The gym also had a basement where the lockers and showers were located. A library and game rooms filled the first floor of the dormitory, while the upper story was occupied by living quarters and a crafts room. With the addition the NENH was one of the five largest settlement houses in the country. Its reputation as a social organization was also expanding. A local newspaper remarked: "The neighborhood house has grown in fame and activity until it rivals the internationally known Hull House of Chicago and the University Settlement House of New York City." On December 14, 1927, the NENH provided another open house for area residents, allowing people to roam the halls of the dormitory and watch basketball exhibitions in the gymnasium.
With a larger building and a growing reputation, the NENH continued its business of neighborhood service. When the Depression hit the settlement house became a focal point for aid, adopting many citywide and nationwide relief programs. By this time Minneapolis was home to ten settlement houses, each with an area of influence generally distinct from the others. Also, during this period, the Gilman’s seemed to become more publicly vocal with their moral judgements. They were quite pleased with the government's prohibition stance. Robbins Gilman felt that the saloon had "done more to retard our national progress, debauch our citizenship and piteously outrage the innocent . . . than anything the modern world has known." He would later remark: "Thank God, for the awakened conscience which has doomed the liquor traffic." Of course, the liquor traffic would resume, but it was victory at the time. The Gilman’s also sought to explain the high juvenile delinquency rate in Northeast during the mid-1920s by blaming motion picture theaters, bowling alleys, pool and dance halls, and similar establishments Although the Gilman’s' moral righteousness was sometimes unappreciated there was little doubt in the community that they were providing a valuable service. It was a difficult occupation; that is, it was a difficult life. The Gilman’s were essentially on call all day and every day. The staff that worked for the head worker did not have it much easier. They were also expected to address issues and problems as they arose. But despite the hard life it seems that staff often felt they were receiving more than they were giving. The sense of accomplishment that comes with helping others seemed to provide a boost in morale. Simple gestures like a "thank you" from a grateful resident, or merely a handshake, spurred the settlement house's workers to continue helping.

VIII. An Evolving Social Institution
In 1948, after dedicating half their lives to the management of the NENH, the Gilmans finally retired. They could be proud of their efforts, but they must have experienced some dejection as well. In the mid-1950s, an anonymous report noted that the cohesiveness of Northeast as a neighborhood had certainly improved through the years, but the core problem of ethnic differences was never
satisfactorily resolved. Robbins Gilman admitted as much fifteen years earlier. While he believed that neighborhood unity had improved since the settlement house opened, the lack of a cooperative spirit among the various nationalities was still disappointing
Lester L. Schaeffer succeeded Robbins Gilman. Schaeffer was head worker for a settlement house in Syracuse, New York, for four years before taking the position at NENH. Eventually, Schaeffer was followed by Joe Holewa, the only one of the three managers who actually came from Northeast. Since Gilman left the neighborhood house the institution's direction has changed somewhat. The emphasis continues to be community service, but the organization no longer operates entirely in the traditional settlement house manner. There are several reasons for this. In the 1950s, and especially the 1960s when Lyndon Johnson advocated his "New Society," government began dominating social service programs historically administered by the settlement houses. Large, well-funded private groups also usurped some settlement house functions. Moreover, traditional neighborhoods have changed. Groups that grew up with the settlement houses have moved out of the area, replaced by others less familiar with the movement's history. Additionally, the social problems that emerged in the last half of the twentieth century were generally more severe than those experienced in the first half. New means of dealing with these issues were required. To survive and meet the evolving needs of a different clientele, settlement houses were forced to rethink their approach to community service. Many did this by merger with other social service groups or settlement houses. Pillsbury House underwent merger in 1959, joining with the Citizen's Club to form Pillsbury Citizen's Service. Later, in 1963, the NENH did the same, merging with the Margaret Barry House. The expanded social service enterprise was organized as East Side Neighborhood Service, Incorporated (ESNS). It may have been at this time that staff no longer made their permanent residence within the settlement house

Eventually ESNS sold the Margaret Barry House structure. In the early 1980s the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission determined the Barry House was historic. The Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office agreed, as did the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places. The new owner of the building resisted the designation, however, and the house was never officially placed on the National Register. Presently, no representative example of a settlement house in Minnesota exists on the National Register. The Margaret Barry House remains today and continues to reflect its historic appearance. Various community groups currently use it.

In the 1970s, ESNS was required to adapt the NENH facility to current building codes. Bathrooms were made handicap accessible and a new elevator was installed in the southeast corner of the main building, explaining the odd vertical structure that protrudes from the roof. A stairwell and storage area addition were added to the south side of the main building at the third-floor level, creating a curious boxed structure that rests atop the roof of the 1927 dormitory wing. It is likely that the basement exit door at the front of the main building was constructed around this time. Other alterations over the last few decades include the installation of a hanging ceiling and fluorescent lighting throughout much of the building. Former bedrooms and social rooms were also converted to office space. About thirty or forty years ago the glass block windows in the upper wall on the south and east sides of the gymnasium were removed. The window space was then filled with brick.
ESNS continues to carry on the social service heritage of its settlement house forerunner, only its sphere of influence is greater. ESNS has numerous programs designed to meet the needs of a diverse clientele. Many of these programs are based at different facilities throughout the eastern part of Minneapolis, including Northeast Park on Pierce Street Northeast, Luxton Park at Williams Avenue Southeast, and Northeast Neighborhood Early Learning Center on Thirteenth Avenue Northeast. Of course, the original NENH building continues to be used as a service center and as the administrative hub for ESNS. ESNS also provides outdoor excursions for area residents at Camp Bovey near Solon Springs, Wisconsin. This practice originated in 1949 when Schaeffer was managing the NENH. The current executive director is William Laden, who has been part of the establishment for the past twenty-one years. Laden has helped lead the organization's campaign to raise funds for a new ESNS building. The new building is presently under construction on Second Street Northeast, only a few blocks south of the original structure. ESNS will soon move into their new facility and the old settlement house building will be adapted for use as apartment dwellings

IX. Conclusion
At the turn of the twentieth century a few enlightened individuals chose to dedicate their lives to the betterment of others. The settlement house movement was designed to reach those most in need, typically immigrants. Consequently, these social welfare institutions were generally established in disadvantaged neighborhoods with high immigrant populations. The NENH stands today as a tangible reminder of this movement. Specifically, it is a significant representative example of the settlement house movement in Minneapolis. As such, it is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A.