Third Street Music School is the longest-running community music school in the United States, and was founded in New York City in 1894 by Emilie Wagner, a 27-year-old graduate of
Goucher College. Wagner's goal was to "help poor children of the
Lower East Side with music to provide a source of spiritual and cultural nourishment, inspire achievement in its young students, and serve as a universal language for the community’s Jewish, Irish, Italian, Russian, Greek and Hungarian immigrants." Its roots can be traced to the
Rivington Street Settlement established during the late 19th-century
settlement house movement. Wagner began teaching violin and piano to 10 students under the auspices of College Settlement of New York in the basement of
Mariner's Temple. As she added students, the Music School moved to
Rivington Street. Third Street Music School Settlement became an official entity in 1903 ==Notable faculty and alumni==