Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1995
Today’s illustration shows Dorchester House in 1942.
Dorchester House offers a wide variety of health and social service programs including day-care, after-school care, senior services, a Health Center and recreational activities.
Dorchester House was established during the Progressive Movement in American history, a period when many conscientious Americans were attempting to cure the ills of the industrial society by improving the social environment in the new urban neighborhoods. The development of Dorchester House into a neighborhood social service agency during the late nineteenth century was a response to the need for social reform. The answer to this need was expressed in the form of the “settlement house.” Dorchester House was called a settlement house because its staff lived in the house or in the surrounding neighborhood in an effort to understand the community’s needs. These early efforts of social services eventually led to the modern field of social work.
In May 1941 Dorchester House purchased its new location at 1345-1353 Dorchester Avenue, two acres of land bordering Ellet Street and Leedsville Street near Fields Corner with a tenement building, a junkshop, a laundry, a shoe repair shop and a vacant store. After ten months of extensive cleanup and renovation, the new headquarters opened with twenty-four activity rooms. In the mid 20th century, Dorchester House sponsored five activity centers located throughout the community. They included the Grover Cleveland School gym, a basketball league at the Neponset Recreational Center, an athletic field near Glovers Corner, and a softball league at the Alsen Playground as well as the Charles Hayden Centre for Boys Clubs of Dorchester House in the Neponset neighborhood in 1939.
In May, 1974 the Dorchester House Multi-Service Center moved into a new, modern facility at 1353 Dorchester Avenue, and a second floor was built three years later. Extensive renovations in the late 1990s ensure that the Center’s programs continue to be effective.
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