Neighborhood House: Madison's Settlement House
Established in 1916, Madison's only settlement house served the predominantly Italian immigrant population of the Greenbush neighborhood a few blocks south of the University of Wisconsin campus. Its records fill more than four boxes and include hundreds of photographs about the organization's activities. These provide a rich visual record not just of Neighborhood House but of a diverse ethnic community that was obliterated by "urban renewal" during the 1960s.
Creating Community
For the first half century of its existence, Neighborhood House was run by Gay Braxton and Mary Lee Griggs, two women with backgrounds in social work. As the area changed over time, working-class African Americans, Jews, Irish and Germans all joined in Neighborhood House activities. What emerges from the scrapbooks, photo albums and individual images in the Neighborhood House records is the sense of a cohesive community. This was bound together by a network of clubs, programs and events hosted by the settlement house and overseen by Braxton and Griggs. This gallery features 133 images documenting those activities.
