Goodrich Social Settlement

Flora Stone Mather

The idea which gradually grew into Goodrich House came to Flora S. Mather about the year 1894, when she thought of establishing an appropriate building for the social work of the Old Stone Church.[5]

The resulting plan was developed and modified in various particulars after the consideration of several years. Originally the sole idea was to provide a place where the parish work of the First Presbyterian Church could be enlarged, as the work of a church so situated might be. To find a suitable site in the immediate vicinity of the church proved a difficult matter. As time went on, each year showed more convincingly that the field was too large for any one church to care for, and that opportunity was offered for many workers of varied gifts. Finally the present location for the building was fixed upon. Meanwhile the settlement idea had been growing and proving its worth wherever conducted in the right spirit. This led to the conviction that the field here was one where a settlement might be more useful than a parish house.[4]

William H. Goodrich

A name for the building was readily available. Twenty-five years earlier Rev. Dr. William Henry Goodrich was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. Dr. Goodrich combined broad culture with deep sympathy for humanity, and took the greatest interest in the welfare of this locality. His name, suggestive of much that harmonizes with settlement ideals, could be applied with peculiar appropriateness to a home devoted to settlement work. Cleveland, October, 1897.[4]

The settlement was located far downtown in a mixed factory and tenement district. The population was largely of American, Irish, and German extraction, but there were many Poles. The neighborhood, while narrow (only a few blocks wide), was very long (about 2 miles (3.2 km)) and the movement of population tended to put the house at one end of its quarter. Work was also carried on in two cottages at 1416 East Thirty-first Street and the neighboring public school, which was in the geographical center of the Goodrich House constituency.[2]

The organization known as the Goodrich Social Settlement Corporation had its beginning in December 1896. At that time a few people interested in settlement ideas were asked to come together to consider plans for carrying on the work to be undertaken at Goodrich House, then nearing completion. An informal organization was made by the twelve persons present, officers elected and a committee appointed to draw up a constitution. In January 1897, this committee reported, several amendments were proposed, and the matter was left open until the February meeting, when the constitution, with its various amendments, was adopted.[6]

A few months later, it was felt that more effective work could be done were the association incorporated. A charter was accordingly drawn up, signed by the twelve original members and three additional names, and this charter being granted under the laws of Ohio, the Goodrich Social Settlement Association became an incorporated body May 15, 1897.[6] At incorporation, these were the trustees: Flora S. Mather, Samuel Mather, Lucy B. Buell, William E. Cushing, M. R. Swift, Elizabeth H. Haines, Edward W. Haines, Hiram C. Haydn, Charles D. Williams, Sereno P. Fenn, Henry E. Bourne, Samuel E. Williamson, and Glen K. Shurtleff.[5]

The thirteen members of the Board of Trustees, chosen by the members of the corporation from their number, met once a month to hear reports from the various branches of the work and consider any questions that may arise in connection with it. The Executive Committee of Trustees met fortnightly, and was empowered to act upon any matters requiring immediate attention. A Finance Committee, House Committee, Library Committee, and Entertainment Committee looked after the various details that came under these heads.[6]

In 1900, Mather felt that the house had proved itself worthy of permanence, and she therefore presented the deed of the Goodrich house property to the trustees with the following letter:—[5]

"To the Trustees of The Goodrich Social Settlement:

“I hand you with this a deed of Goodrich house, No. 612 St. Clair ave., and I intend to give certain sums from year to year to form an endowment fund for the house. “I desire the house to be used (as named in your articles of incorporation) for a Christian Social settlement so long as, in the judgment of the trustees, that is a useful and needful work in that neighborhood;but if ever in their judgment there comes a time when, through the changed character of the neighborhood, to continue such a work there would be a waster of energy, the trustees may dispose of the property. "The building is constructed so that it can be used for business purposes. My object in erecting the building in the locality was to provide for the social, spiritual and material betterment of the neighborhood, and I want such a work to continue there as long as it is needed.

"If it shall be deemed wibe by the trustees to discontinue the work there, I wish them to use the funds, including the proceeds of any sale of the house, to carry on a similar work in some other downtown locality; but if the coming years bring something better which I have not named, then I wish the trustees to devote the funds to such charitable use as may be best fitted to that end, and as near as may be to that to which the property is now applied.

Goodrich House was located on the corner of St. Clair and Bond streets, in the downtown district. This district, to outward appearances, was not so densely populated as some other parts of Cleveland. There was, however, much crowding of families into two or three rooms. It was also bad from a sanitary point of view. The population was, for the most part, English-speaking.[4]

The house itself was a substantial building of impervious brick and terra-cotta, with a frontage of 122 feet on St. Clair street and 97 feet on Bond street. The design was Gothic, ornamented with Spanish renaissance detail. Building was begun in April, 1896, and the building was completed, ready for occupancy, in June, 1897. The building consisted of basement, first, second and third stories. The interior was finished throughout in oak. The side walls and ceilings were painted in plain, harmonious colors. The general impression was one of cleanliness and roominess.[4]

Over the inner doorway, on the St. Clair street side, were two inscriptions. The words of the one were from Abraham Lincoln: "With firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right"; the other from John Hay: "He who would rule must first obey."[4]

gymnasium

On the first floor were the reading room and library, the gymnasium, the restaurant, the kitchen, the kindergarten and the kitchen garden rooms. The reading room and library, large and well lighted, was fitted with reading tables, paper racks and book cases. An arrangement had been made with the public library whereby such books as were needed for circulation at Goodrich House were furnished by the library.[4]

The gymnasium had a floor space 40 by 46 feet (12 m × 14 m). The apparatus was so arranged that it could be easily removed to change the gymnasium into an audience room with a seating capacity of about 300. A stage and two dressing rooms provided for entertainments.[4]

The restaurant was the corner room, lit from two sides by casement windows. It was used largely as a dining room for the residents and as a refreshment room for club meetings and entertainments. Opening out of the restaurant was the kitchen, conveniently arranged and with ample shelf and cupboard space.[4]

The kindergarten was a room 30 by 34 feet (9.1 m × 10.4 m). Cases fitted in the walls were large enough to contain all supplies. A number of pictures made the room attractive. The tiles about the fireplace depicted rural scenes in which domestic animals and children occupied a prominent place. The kitchen garden consisted of three rooms: kitchen, dining room and bedroom, affording an opportunity for practical instruction in housekeeping.[4]

In the basement were a locker room with 340 lockers, shower/bathroom, bowling alley, washroom, engine and boiler rooms. An open court with a concrete floor and flower beds on either side afforded a "basement garden."[4]

The other part of the basement, which was of special interest, was the laundry, open at a nominal price to the women of the neighborhood. This was fitted with sets of tubs, each supplied with hot and cold water and a steam coil for boiling. A steam drier provides for the quick drying. Women of the neighborhood were enabled to remove the unsanitary processes of washing and drying from already over-crowded home space and sleeping rooms.[4]

parlor

On the second floor were four class rooms, a game room, two club rooms, two office rooms, a parlor, a small reception room, a sitting room, and bath rooms. The bath rooms on this floor were fitted with porcelain lined tubs, and were designed for the use of women and girls. The finished part of the third floor was divided into rooms for residents. In 1897, twelve person could be accommodated.[4]

• Starr Cadwallader, head residents, 1897-1903[2]
• Marion Campbell, head residents, 1904-5[2]
• J. H. Chase, head residents, 1907-1910[2]
• Alice P. Gannett, the settlement's long-time head worker[8]
• Rev. Dr. William Henry Goodrich, the settlement's namesake
• Flora Stone Mather, founder
• Samuel Mather, trustee
• Rufus E. Miles, head residents, 1903-4[2]
• Dr. E. A. Peterson, head residents, 1910[2]
• Howard Woolston, head residents, 1905-7[2]

• Settlement and community houses in the United States