HIRAM HOUSE - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

HIRAM HOUSE Social Settlement was established in 1896 as an outgrowth of a Hiram College student project. Following a brief tenure on the west side of Cleveland (June-Sept. 1896), Hiram House moved to the east side. It occupied several structures along Orange Ave. before constructing a permanent facility at 2723 Orange Ave. in 1899-1900. GEO. BELLAMY†, one of the settlement's founders, served as director from 1897-1946. He attracted financial support from prominent families, such as the Mathers, Prentisses, and Hunts. The settlement expanded, purchasing a rural camp in MORELAND HILLS in 1902 and additional structures adjacent to its main building in 1906. In 1926 Hiram House began a series of branch efforts at city school buildings in cooperation with the CLEVELAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS. The neighborhood's population changed over time from East European Jewish immigrants in 1900, to ITALIANS by 1914 and blacks (see AFRICAN AMERICANS) after World War I. Work at the Orange Ave. location ceased in 1941; the main settlement building was subsequently demolished. Branch operations ceased in 1948 upon recommendation of the Welfare Fed. Since then Hiram House has operated as a year-round camping facility.

Grabowski, John J. "A Social Settlement in a Neighborhood in Transition, Hiram House, Cleveland, Ohio, 1896-1926" (Ph.D. diss., CWRU, 1977).

Hiram House Records, WRHS.

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