Grand Street Settlement was founded in 1916 by a group of young adults who were part of the Stevenson Club at Madison House (the present
Hamilton-Madison House) led by
philanthropist Rose Gruening. The group perceived a need in the Lower East Side's immigrant communities for smaller
settlement houses, and concluded that this would help these communities achieve
self-sufficiency. They opened the Arnold Toynbee House (named after the British social reformer,
Arnold Toynbee) in a
brownstone building at 257 Division Street. It was renamed Grand Street Settlement eight years later. Before its founding in 1907, Gruening established Camp Moodna in
Mountainville, New York. The camp used disposed trolley cars from New York City as bunks and offices while children were able to play and learn in the fresh air away from the city. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Settlement's main services were provided through clubs for children, and young men and women. These clubs featured art, sewing, and dance. The settlement also operated household management and child-rearing programs for parents, and a kindergarten for their children. Camp Moodna was donated to Grand Street in 1925 and would remain in Mountainville until flooding from
Hurricane Diane forced the camp to relocate to
East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The camp would later be sold to fund Grand Street's Lower East Side community center located at 80 Pitt St. By the 1930s, the agency had expanded its services, and professionals began replacing
volunteers on staff. Core programs in the late 1930s and during the 1940s included childcare, daycare, and health and personal services. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, and continuing to the present, the Lower East Side has seen the arrival of new immigrants, mostly from the
Caribbean,
Latin America, and
Asia. In 1974, Grand Street opened the new community center at 80 Pitt St. which served as a state-of-the-art community space in partnership with the
New York City Housing Authority. The center provided early childhood, youth development, and older adult programs alongside services to support individuals and families with financial, immigration, or legal assistance. == Programs ==