Endowments; Public baths; Social settlements; Pittsburgh (Pa.); Soho Bath House; Civic Club of Allegheny County (Pa.); Soho Community House
Format
correspondence
Genre
Business correspondence
Origin Information
1886
Physical Description
microfilm, 16 mm, b&w
digitized microfilm
Note (Reel no.)
Reel 85
Note
PDF may contain multiple grant documents.
The Civic Club of Allegheny Country; Soho Baths Settlement House; Pittsburgh, PA
Constructed in 1907, the Soho Bath House (originally 2408 Fifth Avenue, now 2410 Fifth Avenue) was one of the best equipped institutions of its kind in the country, and was opened in January, 1909. This building was constructed at a cost of $120,000 a nd was paid for by the Civic Club (organized 1895). Today, the bath house houses its original (albeit inoperable) pool, showers, & changing facilities and is one of the last remaining vestiges of the vanished Soho neighborhood. The club operated two public bath houses: the Peoples’ Bath House on Penn Avenue and the Soho Bath House on Fifth Avenue. William James Carpenter was commissioned to design both bath houses." [SOURCE: "The Soho Public Baths." Preservation Pittsburgh, http://www.preservationpgh.org/soho-baths-1. Accessed 11 Oct. 2018.] "Founded in 1905 as a meeting place for women and girls’ clubs and classes at the Phelan house at 2404 Fifth Avenue in the Soho neighborhood (now predominately known as the Bluff and South Oakland neighborhoods) of Pittsburgh, the Soho Community House served as a center to meet the social, health, and educational needs of the residents of this industrial working class neighborhood for more than half a century. The Soho neighborhood was a long narrow swath of land situated along the northern shore of the Monongahela River, parallel to Second Avenue, from downtown Pittsburgh until it reaches the 'Oakland Bend' where both Forbes and Fifth Avenues curve to a northeasterly direction. The northern border of the neighborhood is shared with the Hill District, along Fifth Avenue. In 1905, the neighborhood was dominated by heavy industry located on the flat areas along the river and included the Soho Works of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, the copper works of the C. G. Hussey Company, and National Tube Works of U. S. Steel. The organization focused on the needs of residence of the surrounding community. They provided art and English classes, health care, child care, and recreational activities. The Soho Community House worked in conjunction with other neighborhood agencies, such as the Peoples Bath House (aka Soho Bath House), where residents were provided with shower, bathing, laundry, and pool facilities. During the Depression Era, the population experienced some transition from being predominately populated by English-speaking populations to large classes of migrants and immigrants. The community saw a rise in the population of African-Americans, Irish, Lithuanians, Italians, Polish, Russians and many other nationalities. This lead to programs around inter-racial and inter-cultural understanding and cooperation, which dominated many of their programs during the Second World War. The main facility of the Soho Community House was located at 2358 Fifth Avenue, although they occupied several sites around the neighborhood for various program needs. The program needs and service sites of the organization were influenced by the construction of Terrace Village, a public housing development, in the Hill District just prior to the Second World War. By the 1960s, following the construction of the Parkway East, the neighborhood became more distinctly connected to the neighboring Hill District, which lead to the 1964 consolidation of the Soho Community House with the Anna B. Heldman Center and the Hill City Municipality to form the Hill House Association." [SOURCE: "Guide to Soho Community House Records, 1938-1942 AIS.2017.03." Historic Pittsburgh. University of Pittsburgh Library System, Archives & Special Collections, Mar. 2017, https://historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/object/pitt%3AUS-PPiU-ais201703. Accessed 11 Oct. 2018.] "The history of the Civic Club began in 1890, when a group of Pittsburgh women came together to form the Women’s Health Protective Association to encourage the development and growth of the city’s public health works and charities. By 1895, the association was recommended to become a civic club with 'the men [providing] the experience' and 'the women the enthusiasm.' John A. Brashear took a leadership role in the club by incorporating and chartering it in 1896. The Civic Club’s mission has been 'to promote by education and organized non-partisan effort a higher public spirit and better social order.' Interested in beautifying the community, providing public services to the working classes, and promoting patriotic and civic-minded education to the city’s immigrant populations, this club embodied the progressive ideals of the early twentieth century and continued to promote social consciousness well into the post WWII era. The accomplishments of the Civic Club included the establishment of city playgrounds, smoke abatement regulations, education programs of workers and immigrants, public baths and laundry in the Soho neighborhood, child labor regulations, contagious disease hospitals, public concerts, and the maintenance of public gardens. The Civic Club played a prominent role in passing legislation for improving the living standards of the city’s residents. Some of the Civic Club’s legislative causes included pure water acts, garbage collection, school inspections, free bridges, and an improved city charter. One of the Civic Club’s most notable contributions was encouraging voter participation. The Civic Club published a voter directory for each primary and general election listing all candidates, their biographies, and qualifications in order to enable citizens to vote intelligently. Another noteworthy club venture, the Exceptionally Able Youth program, provided recognition and motivation to the talented students of Allegheny County from 1916 to 1974. Due to difficulty obtaining the yearly finances needed to operate the organization, the Civic Club surrendered its charter in 1974 and dissolved." [SOURCE: "Guide to the Civic Club of Allegheny County Records, 1896-1974 AIS.1970.02." Historic Pittsburgh. University of Pittsburgh Library System, Archives & Special Collections, Jul. 2009, https://www.historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/object/pitt%3AUS-PPiU-AIS197002. Accessed 11 Oct. 2018.]
Language
English
Library Location
Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University