Originally called the West End Boys Club; the building was built in 1929 and funded by over $500,000 willed by James Storrow and his family. It contained: libraries, club rooms, a gym, and basketball courts. Actor Leonard Nimoy was among its 725 members. Spared from urban renewal, it is used today as offices for Mass General Hospital and stands as an example of the many settlement houses that once served the West End immigrant population. The West End House Boys and Girls club moved to Allston in 1971 and is in existence today.
Helen Storrow (1864-1944) funded the Saturday Evening Girls at North Bennet Street Industrial School where young working class Italian and Jewish immigrant girls were taught literacy skills as well as pottery and other crafts in a culturally-rich program. This grew into the home of Paul Revere Pottery and Library Clubhouse (at 18 Hull St., North End) Some of the pottery can be seen today in the Boston Public Library and Museum of Fine Arts. Later Storrow went on to champion playgrounds, the Girl Scouts and sailing on the Charles, now called “Community Boating.”
Born and raised in Baltimore by German-Jewish immigrant parents, Lina Hecht (1848-1920) became one of Boston’s leading women philanthropists, founding some of the earliest settlement houses in the city to serve the growing Eastern European Jewish community. She acted as a catalyst for the community bringing people together at her home on Commonwealth Ave. Hecht helped Mary Antin publish her first memoir From Plotzk to Boston and introduced Justice Louis Brandeis to influential members of Boston’s business community.
Born in Boston, Golde Bamber (1868-1951) studied at both Boston University and 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 and studied both vocational and academic courses. After Hecht’s death, Bamber renamed H.I.S. “the Hecht Neighborhood House.”
Considered a pioneer in social work, Eva Whiting White (ca.1885-1974) )was the first woman to graduate from the Boston School for Social Work (later part of Simmons College). As Head Worker of the Elizabeth Peabody Settlement House (1909-1944), she expanded classes to include woodworking, radio broadcasting, debate, and dramatics. When a new, larger building was built in 1911, a professional theater was added. Leonard Nimoy and Ruth Roman both began acting there. White also served as Dean of Simmons College School of Social Work.
As a teenager, Ruth Roman (1922-1999)was a member of the Elizabeth Peabody House. Born of Lithuanian-Jewish parents in Lynn, Roman grew up in the tenements of the West End. After performing regionally, she got bit parts in film. Eventually she performed with major film stars such as Kirk Douglas, James Stewart, and Gary Cooper.
