Youth and the Houston Center: Growing Up Together

The Houston Community Center carries on a long and illustrious tradition of social service in this ethnically diverse South Philadelphia neighborhood. Founded in 1901 as St. Martha’s House, the organization functioned as a settlement house serving the predominantly Italian and Eastern European immigrant communities of the area. St. Martha’s provided education and health services and emphasized “integration and assimilation” programs for immigrants intended to ease their transition into an unfamiliar city and culture. Changing its name to the Houston Center 1966, the settlement house evolved with the changing neighborhood. The center developed a strong youth orientation, with after-school programs thriving as neighborhood kids took advantage of the Center’s recreation and education offerings. The center became, as Maitlon Russell remembers his time there as a child, like “a giant babysitter” to the neighborhood. The youth focus has continued into recent times: in 2003 a collaborative founded the Youth Leadership council, sponsoring a “teen lounge,” dances, and games. Youth and the Houston Center: Growing Up Together tells the story of this vital South Philly community space through the memories of several generations of its patrons.