Hudson Guild

March 1895 - present

John Lovejoy Elliott founded the Hudson Guild Settlement House in 1895. Forming the organization from the emerging boys clubs in the neighborhood, Elliott, with the support of the Ethical Culture Society, drew from the principles of the settlement house movement to establish a neighborhood center on West Twenty-Seventh Street. Among other initiatives, the Guild opened a nursery school and kindergarten, organized English, music, theater classes and after school programs, established a range of health clinics, and orchestrated the development of Chelsea Park and playground. The Guild also purchased a farm in New Jersey where neighborhood children enjoyed recreational camp in the summer months. In the 1940s, the Guild began to work directly with the New York City Housing Authority; the block the Guild was located on became the site of one of the first public housing complexes in the city. Hudson Guild eventually relocated to one of the buildings of the new housing complex, adding programs and services to meet the needs of families moving to Chelsea. As it expanded, Hudson Guild purchased new buildings in the neighborhood, and today operates out of a number of school, public housing, and non-profit sites.

Hudson Guild: Children Reading at Hudson Guild Traveling Library, 1910
Hudson Guild Elliott Center
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Details

Category
Social Settlement House
Audience
All Ages
Founder(s)
Dr. John Lovejoy Elliott

Connections

Location

  • 459 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001, USA
    1968 - ?
  • 436 W 27th, New York, NY 10001, USA
    1907 - 1968
  • 256 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001, USA
    1895 - 1907
  • 441 W 26th St, New York City, USA
    ? - present

Archival Collections

References

  1. Arter, Rhetta M. Living in Chelsea: A Study of Human Relations in the Area Served by the Hudson Guild. New York: New York Savings Bank, 1954.
  2. Columbia University Libraries Digital Library Program Division. “Hudson Guild Records, 1896-1990s.” Accessed April 12, 2018. https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead//nnc-rb/ldpd_6930622#about_findaid.
  3. Federal Writers’ Project. New York City Guide: A Comprehensive Guide to the Five Boroughs of the Metropolis. New York: Random House, 1939.
  4. Hudson Guild. Hudson Guild: 436-8 West Twenty-Seventh Street, New York City. New York: Hudson Guild, 1920.
  5. Kennedy, Albert J. and Robert Archey Woods. Handbook of Settlements. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1911.
  6. The Encyclopedia of New York City, 2nd ed. Ed. Kenneth T. Jackson. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.