Born in Boston, Golde Bamber (1868-1951) studied at both Boston University and earned a degree in Social Work at Simmons College. After encouraging Lina Hecht to fund a settlement house for immigrant Jewish youth from families pouring into Boston, she became its director. The Hebrew Industrial School (H.I.S.) was set up in the North and West Ends beginning in 1882. More than 1200 youths enrolled during its first five years, studying both vocational and academic courses. After Hecht’s death, Bamber renamed H.I.S. “Hecht Neighborhood House.”
In 1936, Bamber made the decision to follow the movement of the Jewish community to Dorchester where she also changed the purpose of the facility from a settlement house to a community center. The former Jewish Children’s Home on American Legion Highway became repurposed as “The Hecht House” and stood in that location until 1970, well after Bamber’s death.
