- Kingsley Association (Pittsburgh, PA)
The Kingsley Association, organized in 1893, began as a single
settlement house located inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania , named the Kingsley House. It has since relocated its settlement house to toEast Liberty (Pittsburgh) where it continues to operate today. It has also expanded to operate the Lillian Taylor Camp, an open airfarm inValencia, Pennsylvania and the Morgan Memorial House in theHill District of Pittsburgh. The Kingsley Association seeks to create new andinnovative , neighborhood-basedprograms in accordance with the changing needs ofresidents , with particular attention to young people. [Records of the Kingsley Association, 1894-1980, AIS 70:5, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh.]Founding
The Kingsley Association was formed by the
Reverend Dr.George Hodges (theologian) fromCambridge, Massachusetts as a Pittsburgh settlement house. According to an article written in 1894, Dr. Hodges had come to Pittsburgh under the auspices of theChurch club. [Davis, Allen F. Spearheads for Reform: The Social Settlements 1890-1914. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967. ] In Cambridge he had served as the Dean of theEpiscopal Divinity School [http://www.eds.edu/] . He named the house in honor ofCharles Kingsley , a very popular EnglishChristian Socialist andauthor . After analzying the titles of Hodges' books, it is obvious that his admiration for Kingsley was because of his status as areligious writer , not as aSocialist .Purpose
The
purpose for the creation of the Kingsley House was not much different than that of any othersettlement house . Hodges had simply repeated whatJane Addams had done withHull House inChicago and what many other settlement houses across thenation had done to benefit thecommunities they were located in. The real purpose of the Kingsley House and these other settlement houses was to providesocial andeducational opportunities forworking class families that otherwise would not be able to afford it. Hodges, himself, described the Kingsley House as existing “for the purpose of being a friend to everybody in the neighborhood who needs a friend.” He was referring to the Kingsley House existing just as a friend does, as a source ofenjoyment and support in times of need. One example was thekindergarten , where young children whose families could probably not afford formalschooling could find a good education for their children. The school also served as a place for children to meet andsocialize with other children of the same age.The purpose of what had become the Kingsley Association was flowing and ever-changing. When the Lillian Taylor Camp [http://www.kingsleyassociation.org/lillian_taylor_camp.html] was created the purpose was to allow
inner-city children andmothers to spend time away from the congested andnoisy city out in the quiet and serenecountryside . It was also used as asummer camp to act as an extension of the Kingsley House while also getting children away from the city and to experience something other than what they had been used to all of their lives. Another change came with the influx ofAfrican-Americans in the late 1910s and the creation of the Morgan Memorial House to accommodate this. While the guests of the Kingsley House had come from industrial backgrounds, many of the guests of Morgan Memorial House were experiencing for the first time the life and ways of a city. Thus, the Morgan Memorial House tended to concentrate its classes andactivities more along the lines of adapting these children to city life.Lifting andeducation were more emphasized compared to the other parts of the Kingsley Association. The purpose of the Kingsley Association cannot be restrained to one definition and as it has increased in size and Pittsburgh'sdemographics have changed so too has the Association's purpose andcontributions to the community.Membership
At first the Kingsley Association was located at 1707 Penn Avenue,
Pittsburgh , PA. It was close to several largeiron andsteel mill s. It catered to a very diverse population. The surrounding area consisted mostly offactory workers that was predominantlyIrish-American , but in time came to include German, Russian, andAustria nPoles . A little farther were large settlements ofJewish and Germanimmigrants with people of English andScots-Irish descent present as well. A major shift from these ethnic groups occurred in 1919. The businesses in major cities had been experiencing alabor shortage because ofWorld War I and they looked toAfrican-Americans to fill the gap. Most of the African-American population that moved into Pittsburgh settled in theHill District . Anothersettlement house , the Morgan Memorial House, was created by the Kingsley Association to account for this surge in thepopulation , after which the membership of the Association as a whole became a largepercentage African-American.Within weeks of the opening of Kingsley House, there were five boys clubs and four girls clubs, ranging from
American history tofairy tales . Thesewing class had an average attendance of thirty girls beginning in January. Other clubs included the “Kingsley House Literary Society,” a “City Government Club,” and a “Reading Club.” Akindergarten was opened for young children in the area from 9AM to 12AM, Monday through Friday. Most otherclubs met only once or twice a week. By 1903, over 70 girls were attending the sewing class, prompting the beginning of two other classes insewing andembroidery . As the years passed the membership continued to increase. By 1924, total attendance was 81,375 and by 1933 it was 167,707. However, the interest didn’t stop there; membership peaked at almost 200,000 in 1940.To create interest in the
neighborhood , the Kingsley Association at first relied onword of mouth , but to increase their even further they soon moved to several media outlets, includingradio ,newspapers ,magazines , andbrochures . One such brochure from the early 20th century went:“How would you spend four hours every evening, every week with no money? Read, study, listen to the radio? Well the radio might have one tube or none at all, and there might be so many noisy younger children in the few rooms you called “home” that you couldn’t hear you own thoughts… “What would I do?” Frank [a teenage Kingsley House member] answers the question which a companion had asked of Kingsley House. “You mean if Kingsley House weren’t here to go to? Just what I did - till I got interested in club and basketball - hang around pool-rooms or ‘sneak a movie,’ or worse stuff than that.””
As Pittsburgh
modernized so too did the Kingsley Association. The activities offered by the Association were changed to accommodate the times, some of these new programs included Meet-the-Athlete,SAT Prep,Explorers , and Study Skills.Andrew Carnegie
Interestingly enough,
Andrew Carnegie also had a vested interest. The Kingsley Association became one of the many charities he contributed to after retiring from the steel business. On the 15th of January, 1913, in a letter to the Kingsley Association, thesteel magnate wrote, “Dear Friend, I find I have contributed in the naborhood of $20,000 to Kingsley House and am now paying $3,000 a year. I do not wish to increase this amount of $50,000 I have promist for I feel I have done my part and that liberally….Please consider this and do not press me further and oblige. Very Truly Yours, Andrew Carnegie.”Locations through History
First located on Penn Avenue, in 1901 house operations were transferred to a
mansion purchased byindustrialist Henry Clay Frick . It was located in the LowerHill District at Fulton and Bedford Streets. A fresh air farm, known as Lillian Home, was opened in 1903 on land bought by industrialistCharles L. Taylor . Thefarm remains in operation today. A rapid growth of theAfrican-American population in 1919 led to the opening of the Morgan Memorial House in theHill District . That same year, theUniversity of Pittsburgh [http://www.pitt.edu] conducted a survey of the area surrounding the Kingsley Association and recommended that it relocate itssettlement house toEast Liberty (Pittsburgh) where it continues to operate today. [ [http://www.kingsleyassociation.org Home ] ]References
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All the information not cited has been obtained with permission from the University of Pittsburgh Archives Service Center located at:
7500 Thomas Boulevard
Pittsburgh, PA 15208
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