NE Mpls house holds legacy of Catholic service

When President Harry S. Truman visited Minneapolis in 1950, one of his stops was a muddy park in northeast Minneapolis called Yardville.

Now known as Cavell Park, this hilly plot of land had been abandoned until the women of the Margaret Barry Settlement House took an interest in it and created a playground following a Scandinavian trend, where children were provided with raw materials and given the freedom to dig caves, build forts and plant gardens, all with funding from McCall’s magazine. Although short-lived, Yardville was intended to be a safe place for children in a poorer part of the city to learn and grow.

There were similar goals at the Margaret Barry Settlement House, a few miles south at 759 Pierce St. NE. If Truman had stopped by the large stucco settlement house that afternoon, he likely would have been greeted at the door by a sign reading “Movie This Friday — Everyone Welcome” and a hive of activity inside. On a given afternoon, the social room might host folk dancing, while other children played dodgeball in the gym, rehearsed as part of the choir in the canteen, played checkers in the game room or constructed their own bookshelves in the craft room. Meanwhile, neighbors could enroll their children in the nursery school, join discussion groups, take a practical class or music lesson, or participate in seasonal events like sleigh rides.

In 1953, there were over 160,000 visits to the house. Executive director Florence Bently explained their official aim: “to be a living part of the neighborhood we serve, to help individuals use their own abilities and to contribute to strengthening the family unit.”

The Margaret Barry Settlement House was the first love and main project of the Minneapolis League of Catholic Women. The League was founded in 1911 by young women who wanted to begin social service work in Minneapolis. Many of them were single transplants who lived away from their families and earned small salaries working downtown. The League gave them a chance to meet like-minded Catholics. In 1912, one member, Margaret Barry, started a settlement house with $5 for rent and $5 for furniture. In 1915, the League was able to build and open its own location on Pierce Street with $10,000. The women primarily served nearby Italian, Polish, and Syrian and Lebanese Catholics.

The settlement house offered neighbors many social services with the financial support of the local Community Chest, which collected small donations from Minneapolis residents and redistributed them to meet community needs. A dental and optical clinic, a kindergarten and a public library were some of these services. Until Our Lady of Mount Carmel opened nearby in 1938, the Paulist fathers would come from St. Lawrence (now St. Lawrence Catholic Church and Newman Center at the University of Minnesota) to offer Mass.

Among the settlement house’s best-known programs were its athletics. Boys could join football, baseball, basketball or boxing programs. Girls could try volleyball or folk dancing. Together, these services and activities helped to integrate immigrants into American life by strengthening family relationships and providing support, training and activities for all ages.

By the 1950s, Minneapolis had eight settlement houses spread across the city, but Margaret Barry was the only Catholic one. It merged with the North East Neighborhood House to become East Side Neighborhood Service in 1963. It was put up for sale in 1974, and although a bid to have the building added to the historic register of places failed, it is privately owned and still standing today.

Luiken is a Catholic and a historian with a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She loves exploring and sharing the hidden histories that touch our lives every day.